Shadow Complex
by phoenixreal
Summary: Naruto Uzamaki fronts a band called Shinobi Five. He starts to receive strange cards, and eventually breaks down and tells his bandmate Sasuke what's happening. Once they report it, the police get involved but it doesn't help. The stalking suddenly stops, until one night after a show, he finds himself prisoner of an obsessed man. DARK, GRAPHIC, YAOI, Read Warning before starting.
1. Shinobi Five

Shadow Complex

Author's Notes: From Beverly...With Love

* * *

Welcome to my darkness. I'm going to give you a heads up before you start, but this fic goes in some horrible, dark places. This fic is not for the faint of heart. If you want to know what you're getting into before you start reading, look up the Kevin Smith movie Tusks. We're talking that level of dark and twisted. For those of you that don't know me super well, I have a masters degree in counseling, and one of the things that I love to work with is psychosis dealing with it. Normally, I don't give up this information before a fic, but I feel this is important here mostly because FFNd oesn't allow tagging like Ao3 does.

This fic contains: Forced surgical procedures, removal of teeth, breaking of bones, forced bondage, permanent damage to the character, and long term effects that are not "magically better".

This fic is a very twisted tale of stalking, major psychosis, and trauma. This fic does not demonize the mental health issue that the main antagonist has, on the contrary, I strive to make the character, by the end, somewhat sympathetic. I'm looking at showing a very real portrayal of this type of thing. Don't expect magic better things.

This is a Sasuke/Naruto fic. In the end they DO end up together, however, I'll let you know now, it isn't a normal relationship at that point. Because of what happens to Naruto, they are locked in a relationship that is like a constant pet play scenario for a very long time. Naruto does improve, but he is never "fine". Doing so would make it unrealistic. The point with this fic is to delve in to the depths of the darkest part of the psyche.

Before you begin, I'll warn you that the majority of the graphic surgery happens in chapter four, so skim that chapter if you are squeamish.

Now, the following is important if you are considering reading this fic:

Naruto does get rescued. Kabuto is a man undergoing something called Psychosis secondary to Traumatic Brain Injury. He begins to disassociate as the story moves forward, first with a predator "personality" and then a regretful "Savior" personality.

There are two endings planned. One is the "happy" ending, and the other is the "tragic" and frankly more realistic outcome. I will post two separate chapters for this, so if you do not want to read the tragic ending, you can skip it.

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Chapter One

Shinobi Five

* * *

Sakura Haruno walked with her best frenemy Ino Yamanaka to their first day in Advanced Physiology at Tokyo University. The two girls were somewhat distracted because both had a very similar problem. Sakura was crushing on her friend and bandmate Sasuke Uchiha, and he seemed extremely oblivious to her overtures. Ino, however, had an equally frustrating crush on the lead singer and Sakura's bandmate Naruto Uzamaki. He, like Sasuke, seemed to be oblivious to these things, no matter how many times she flirted with him, or gave him tokens of her affection.

Sakura played the keyboards and did backup vocals for a band called Shinobi Five. Shinobi Five was actually started by Sasuke Uchiha, whose family had the money to back a group of college kids who wanted to start a band. Sasuke, though, didn't sing, but he did play bass guitar. Sakura had recommended her friend Naruto from high school as a lead singer, and so far, it had worked really well. Their drummer was a quiet redheaded boy named Gaara Sands, and their last member was a very lazy boy that Sasuke had recruited named Shikamaru. He played back up guitar and did backup vocals. They were talking as they came into the room.

"Did you see the new outfits that I made for the boys?" Sakura said proudly. "I might have made Naruto's a bit tight in the ass for you."

Ino snorted. "Yeah, well, at least I can see his ass, Sasuke never fuckin' moves on stage…" she muttered.

"Well, I do sit behind him, so that's fine with me. Naruto's hard to make costumes for though, he's so damn energetic and jumpy, he tears them up so fast!" she said as they walked past the Professor at the front, or at least they thought it was their professor. "At least Sasuke doesn't rip the crotch out of every pair of pants I make for him…

The girls sat down and their teacher turned around. He had platinum blonde hair that was almost white and round glasses. He smiled at the class in a very placid way.

"Welcome to Advanced Physiology. I'm a Teacher's Assistant attending the graduate medical program, and I've been assigned to this classroom in lieu of the regular professor. My name is Kabuto Yakushi. Now, since I'm also a student here, things are a bit different, as you will see me outside of the classroom. This is my only teaching assignment, so I'm sure that you may come across me at other school events or classes. My rules are simple in regards to that. Do not discuss class outside of class with me. I am trying to have a life too, you know!"

The class laughed and the rest of the class seemed to go just as any other class despite their teacher being only a couple years older than them. He seemed knowledgeable and very capable, so both Ino and Sakura were pleased with the class. As the class ended, Sakura heard the energetic call from Naruto bounding into the room.

"Sakura!" he said and practically ran up to her. "Sakura!"

He was practically thrumming with energy, like always. He was in his regular outfit, a pair of jeans and a J-pop band shirt. Sakura had no idea why he liked those bands because honestly, his style of singing was much less "pop" and more "metal" as they put it. Maybe "punk". Definitely not "pop", though.

"Naruto, what the hell, class just ended?" she said as she gathered her books.

"But I have news! We're booked at the Station this weekend!" he said, almost hopping back and forth as he spoke.

Sakura looked at him. "We're what?"

"The Station?" Ino said in shock. The Station was a club that had featured many bands that had gone on to stardom. It wasn't a minor venue like they normally played.

"Yeah! I sent a demo over to the guy that owns it! He loved it! He wants us to open for the main band, of course, we're not the main event or anything, but we're opening for Juice Leopards. There are gonna be so many people there!" he said, grinning from ear to ear. His blue eyes were sparkling with the news.

Sakura couldn't help it. Naruto's positivity was infectious. She smiled and hugged him. "Awesome! We have to practice our asses off this week!" she said.

Naruto nodded emphatically. "I can't wait to tell Sasuke!"

"He's not going to even smile, you know," Ino commented, sighing. Naruto was always so excited to tell Sasuke things, and Sasuke never seemed to care in the least.

"He'll be happy, though! We did this without his family's money! All on our own merit!" he said and turned to leave.

Naruto nearly ran right into the Teacher's Assistant Kabuto who had been walking up when he turned to dash out. "Oh!" Naruto gasped and looked up at him. "I'm sorry!" he said and dashed around him and left.

Kabuto looked after him and back to the two girls. "Don't mind him, he's…um…excitable," Sakura said and gathered her books up. Kabuto watched them go, curious indeed over what they had been talking about.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Friday night was, quite frankly, magical for Shinobi Five. Their sets were flawless, and Naruto's energy just incited the crowd to cheer them more and more. This was why he made such a good front man for the band. Sasuke was quiet and reserved, and he would much rather hide in the background than actually get noticed. Naruto on the other hand, loved to be recognized and have everyone's attention. He was sometimes a bit naïve about things, but all in all, it made his charm effective. He was perhaps, the most pure hearted individual Sasuke Uchiha had ever met.

Sasuke hung back as Naruto shook hands and excitedly talked about some of the new songs that Sakura and Shikamaru were working on for them. He was a boundless source of energy to all around him. He glanced over and noticed that Ino was there again, watching every move Naruto made. Sasuke narrowed his glance at her and rolled his eyes. She could not have been more obvious if she tried. She fawned over Naruto all the time, buying him new guitar strings, picks, bringing him coffee and sodas when she came to see Sakura.

Speaking of Sakura, Sasuke thought as he glanced over to see her shooting furtive glances his direction. He sighed in exasperation. Gaara was standing by him as he did so.

"You don't find her attention interesting," he commented in his stoic way.

"No," Sasuke said simply and crossed his arms over his chest. "She just embarrasses herself. Just like Ino in her fawning over the baka. He's so stupid, anyway."

Gaara nodded. "They seem to believe that doing the same things again and again will result in new results. It is quite obvious that you and Naruto are not interested in their affections."

Sasuke snorted. Gaara had no idea. He watched as Naruto hugged and shook hands with a few other people. He held back a biting remark when a girl from the crowd walked up and practically humped Naruto's leg. It wasn't unusual, though, and Naruto always smiled, nodded, and laughed things like that off. That's why he made an ideal front. He could handle those things. Then something changed. He could see him stepping back immediately. Sasuke, however, did step forward when he heard Naruto's nervous laugh as he was pushing the people in the crowd away from him.

"Yo, we need to go, Dobe," Sasuke said, glaring at the girl who was grinning at Naruto.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, um, bye! Come see us again!" he yelled as he let Sasuke pull him away by the arm.

Sasuke started to let go of him, but he saw that something was definitely not right as they came into the backstage area. He growled under his breath and yanked Naruto into the men's room, much to the girls' annoyance.

"What the hell is going on?" Sasuke said. "What happened?"

Naruto turned and blinked at him, and Sasuke saw the look on his face that he was trying to hide. "N-nothing, I'm fine," he said, shaking his head.

"Bullshit, you are freaked the fuck out," he said, putting both hands on his hips.

"It…it's nothing…" he said, but Sasuke saw that his hand was shaking when he ran it over his head. Sasuke grabbed it and glared at him.

Naruto bit his lip. "Th-that girl was handsy, that's all."

"Ng, not all, you've had chicks grab your balls before and it didn't bother you like this," he said.

Naruto shook his head but saw Sasuke wasn't going to let him out of telling him. He swallowed and fished a card out of his pocket. "Someone put this in my hand, I don't know who…"

Sasuke looked at it and frowned. It was a white business card with typed words on it. "I See You" it said and there was what looked like the eye of a snake printed below it. Sasuke put it in his pocket. "That's just something stupid, don't worry about it, Dobe," Sasuke said with a shake of his head.

Naruto nodded. "I guess. Just…it was really weird. Like I felt like someone was behind me, and when I turned, there wasn't anyone, and this was in my hand…"

"Just some idiot who watched the show."

Still, Sasuke worried. The card had been printed, not hastily written.

Naruto smiled after each gig, but after every one he found himself shaking because another card would be found. If not given to him at some point when meeting people, he'd find it in the dressing room. Once, he found one placed in the strings of his guitar. He tried to hide it from Sasuke, but he knew that the bass player knew what was happening. He quietly collected them and put them in a box, wondering if maybe he put them all together, if they would mean something.

It had been almost six months since it began when Sasuke barged into his apartment one night after a rather large venue and found him sitting by the bed with the cards spread out on the bed.

"I knew it."

Naruto looked up at Sasuke. Sasuke's biting remarks died on his lips, though, because he looked afraid. Not anxious, not trying to push it off. He was scared. Sasuke walked over and looked at what was laid out. There had to be fifty of the little business cards. Sasuke began looking through them. Several had the same thing on them. All had the snake's eye on them below three or four word statements printed in plain font. "I See You", "You Can't Hide", "Look At Me", "Too Good To Live", "I Found You", "I Will Have You", "You Need Me", "There's No Way Out"…

"Naruto, these are creepy as fuck!" Sasuke said, looking at him.

"I..I found one in the door when I came home," he said finally, handing Sasuke the one clutched in his hand.

Sasuke took it. "You're Mine Now and Forever".

"Naruto, we need to go to the police," Sasuke said, expecting a fight. However, it was evident of how bothered he was when he just nodded and stood up, staring at the floor.

Sasuke swallowed and gathered all the cards and shoved them in the plain index card box that Naruto had been keeping them. Naruto himself was still in the stage costume and makeup from the night. Sasuke had taken all of his off already. The costumes they were wearing were all unique, but Naruto had been given a headband because of the amount he moved on stage. It had a stylized leaf on it, which over the last few months had become the band's symbol. Each of them wore a band somewhere that had it printed on them. That had actually been Ino's idea, but it had been a good one. Naruto had gone to wearing an orange jacket and pants on stage, mostly for visibility, while the others wore more muted colors. It had a swirl pattern on the middle of the back and the shoulders were black.

"Do you want to change?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto nodded, and took the jacket off and went around the bed to his dresser, pulling out a plain t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. He changed quickly and Sasuke watched carefully. He'd never seen him so out of sorts before. He went forward when he just seemed to stop and sit on the bed and he sat down by him.

"Hey, Dobe, we'll figure it out," he said, putting one hand on his leg and sighing. "I know this is creepy, but we'll deal with it."

Naruto looked at him, swallowing thickly. "Are…are you sure? I don't…I mean, what do I do if they say they can't help? Do…Do…"

Sasuke grabbed his hand. "Stop. Don't worry yet. Just let's figure it out, okay?"

Naruto nodded and let him take him to the police station. Sasuke went up to the desk and waited for the officer to acknowledge him. He finally, after a few minutes of ignoring him, looked up.

"Yes?" he said slowly.

"I need to see someone to report a stalking situation," he said seriously. Beside him Naruto was refusing to look up at anyone and kept staring at the floor. Sasuke realized he'd left the headband on.

"Yeah, yeah, why do you think you're being stalked?" the offers said, still uninterested.

"I'm not being stalked, he is, and the reason is this," Sasuke said starting to get annoyed as he slammed the box on the desk.

The desk officer looked up and narrowed his eyes at Sasuke but flipped through the cards. Sasuke looked at him. "He's been getting them almost weekly for the last six months after our shows. He finally showed them to me tonight when he got this one," he said and pushed the last one over the desk.

"Alright," he said, looking between the two. The desk officer picked up the phone. "You available? Might have a case for you. Yeah." He hung up. "Have a seat, he'll be out to see you in a minute."

Sasuke pulled Naruto to the bench and sat down with him. It was obvious he was still trembling. Hey looked up when a man walked up to them. He was a tall, slender guy. He was wearing gray slacks and a white button up shirt. He had a scarf that covered his mouth and one of his eyes was covered with a patch.

"Inspector Kakashi Hatake, hear you might have something for me?" he asked with a gentle smile to the two boys.

Sasuke nodded, standing up and pulling Naruto to stand beside him. "Someone's stalking him."

Kakashi nodded. "Come on, then," he said and gestured toward an office not far away.

Sasuke sat down in one of the chairs in front of his desk. He pulled Naruto to sit beside him. "Sit down, Dobe," he muttered.

Naruto nodded, looking around. The plaque on the desk read Inspector Kakashi Hatake, Special Victims Division. Sasuke handed him the box of cards. Kakashi took them, looking them over carefully, then making several piles as he sorted them.

Kakashi looked at Sasuke. "Alright, tell me about yourselves," he said as he continued looking over the cards.

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha, his name's Naruto Uzamaki. We go to Tokyo University, I'm Law, he's Economics, and he told me tonight about how bad this has gotten," Sasuke said, glaring at Naruto.

"So this has been going on a while? Tell me the circumstances."

Sasuke looked at Naruto who was just staring at the floor. He rolled his eyes. "It was about six months ago that he showed me the first, that one that says 'I see you'. Since then, this idiot has been hiding the fact he's gotten one after each of our shows."

"Shows?" Kakashi asked, looking at them.

"We have a band," Naruto said, looking up at him. "Um, Shinobi Five, and we've been paying some bigger venues lately, and I find those cards after all of them. They've been put in my hand, in my pockets, on my door to my apartment tonight…"

Kakashi nodded, noticing that the boy had stage makeup on now that he could see him up close. At first he thought he just was wearing normal makeup, but he could tell it was the overexaggerated type for stage use. "Anything else?"

Naruto shrugged. "I mean, I just…I don't know if it has anything to do with the cards…"

"What?" Sasuke asked, snapping his head around to glare at him.

"Just…things missing. Like my guitar picks, or my busted strings will be gone from the trash when I know I put them there, or clothes…" he muttered.

"Clothes?" Kakashi said, frowning. "What exactly?"

Naruto shook his head. "Just things…"

"What?" Sasuke said, frowning deeply at him.

"I don't know for sure! Just like gloves, one of the headbands that Sakura made us, that glitter scarf from the park event, some shirts, boxers, a pair of my jeans…" he muttered.

"That's a lot, son," Kakashi said, concerned. "I might want to put a detail on you."

"A detail?" Naruto said. "Like a guard or something? I can't do that, I go to school all week!"

Kakashi sighed. "Well, I need to put someone on you, we can't just let this go on unchecked. You came here to report it, so obviously, something about it bothers you enough to report it."

Naruto looked up and nodded. "Okay."

Sasuke looked at Naruto and back to Kakashi. He hadn't argued. Naruto argued about everything, especially something like this. Kakashi saw the look on Sasuke's face and knew that this was definitely not an average situation for the young man in front of him.

"Naruto, tell me, is there anyone you see a lot more than others? Have there been anyone that you've noted showing up at the shows or getting closer to you than others?" Kakashi asked, taking out a notepad.

Naruto shook his head. "I don't know, I mean, I see a lot of people, and people touch me all the time, but…it doesn't really bother me. I mean, I know they just want to see me and I like the attention… I mean, I don't know why this bothers me… I should be okay with it, I mean, it has to be some obsessed fan, right? That's good to have someone like me that much, right?" he said, looking up at Kakashi hopefully.

"No, not at all. This isn't normal, Naruto, this is dangerous. People that get this obsessed are dangerous for a lot of reasons. They're unpredictable, and they can do a lot of things that can hurt or sabotage you," Kakashi said with a sigh. He leaned over to the phone. "Send in Officer Lee, please," he said into it.

A moment later a younger man in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt came in with black bowl cut hair and dark eyes. "Yes, sir! Rock Lee reporting, sir!" he said with a grin.

"Lee, I'm assigning you to Mr. Uzamaki here. He's got a stalking situation, it seems, so I want you to keep an eye on him. I'll assign Neji Hyūga and Tenten to the same. I'll let Guy take field lead on the situation. However, you're the only one here tonight, so I want you to follow him back to his apartment and check the area out, look over the place for anything else out of place. Did you drive or get here some other way?" Kakashi asked, looking at the two.

"We walked," Sasuke said.

"Alright, Lee will take you take you back, and I hate to ask, but can you stay at his place tonight?" he said and looked at Sasuke.

Sasuke nodded. "I probably am going to stay with him or take him to my house from now on," Sasuke groused.

"But, Sasuke, you don't have to do that…I mean, if he sends…" he said, looking at him.

"Shut up, Dobe. You don't get a say on this."

Naruto swallowed and nodded, looking back at his hands. Kakashi narrowed his eyes and looked at Lee. "Lee, take them up front to fill the reports out at the desk, and come back, I need to talk to you before you take them back."

A few minutes later, Kakashi watched as the two boys filled out the forms. Lee came back and closed the door behind him.

"Inspector?" he said.

"Watch the dark haired boy, Uchiha. He's really possessive of the blonde. There doesn't seem to be a relationship between them, but he's forceful with him, telling him what to do, and Naruto seems somewhat fearful. It could just be Uchiha trying to take care of his friend. But you know as well as I do, stalking is most often done by people that know the victim. Stay close to the Uzamaki boy. I'll discuss it with Guy before I send him to you in the morning. Try and get information of any others that are close to him, especially any others that are actively possessive. I'm most worried about a savior complex with that Uchiha boy. I know his brother by reputation," Kakashi said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Lee nodded and headed back to the front where Naruto was finishing the last bit of paperwork. He nodded.

"Alirght, let's get you back," Lee said and led them outside to his car.

Sasuke put Naruto in the back and got in beside him. Lee arched a black brow but got in and took off. He'd expected one of them to get in the front, but he supposed it was okay like this. Instead he listened to them.

"I don't know if this is necessary," Naruto said and stared out the window. "I mean, how serious could this be?"

Sasuke growled under his breath. "You are stupid sometimes, idiot. You don't know who this is or what they want! They could do anything with you on stage."

"Why, though?" he asked.

"I don't know why any more than you do, Dobe. Why anyone would pick a baka like you to stalk, I don't' know," Sasuke said.

Naruto sighed. "Hey," Sasuke said and reached over to put a hand on his shoulder. "Look, we'll figure this out, okay? It's probably just some stupid girl that thinks you're cute or something, like idiot Ino does."

"Huh?" Naruto said and looked at Sasuke. "Ino?"

Sasuke sighed. "Really? You don't notice? She fawns over you all the time. All the picks she gives you, the coffee and ramen she brings you to sets and practice? She's got the hots for you. She's as bad as Sakura."

"Sakura? Sakura's my best friend, she's not like that," Naruto said. "She…oh, she likes you," Naruto said with a nod. "And you think Ino likes me the same way?"

"Baka," Sasuke muttered. "They're both idiots too. You have no interest in Ino, and I could not care less about Sakura."

Naruto was quiet. "Yeah, I guess. I'm tired, though," he said as they pulled into the parking garage.

"Lead the way," Lee said as he let them out. Naruto nodded and they headed up.

Naruto swiped his keycard for the elevator and they headed up to his room. Naruto stopped and stared at the door. Lee stepped around him and put out a hand to stop Sasuke from grabbing the card that was taped there.

"Wait," Lee said, pulling a glove out of his pocket and slipping it on. He reached out and pulled off the card.

"They Can't Help You."

Lee put it inside another glove to preserve any evidence. "I'll go in first, unlock it," he said.

Naruto used his keycard and the door turned green. Lee pushed it open and went into the dark room. He flicked the lightswitch on and looked around. Nothing looked out of place at first but he saw that there was something taped to one of the doors. He went over and saw another card. That meant that whoever stuck the card on the front door had been in the room. He walked up and read this one.

"You Can't Hide."

Lee pushed the door open and saw that it was the bedroom. He frowned deeply. The bed was made up perfectly. Considering what he'd seen of Naruto, he didn't mark him as a guy that made his bed like this every morning. On the pillow, another card had been laid on top of a white, flat box. It was tied up with red ribbons.

"For My Sweet," the card read. Lee put the card into the glove with the others and pushed open the box. It was a box of chocolates. He pulled out his phone and called Kakashi to send over a crime scene investigator.

It was nearly two am when everyone left the apartment, and Kakashi stood in the living room where the two sat together. If it was the Uchiha boy, he would have to have an accomplice because someone had been there after he'd brought Naruto to the office. He looked up as the door opened and two girls came running in followed by a red headed boy and a black haired boy with his hands in his pocket.

"Naruto!" the girl with pink hair yelled as she came running into his room. "Are you okay? Why didn't you tell me what was going on?" she said and hugged him to her. Sasuke was sitting beside him on the other side and watching Ino who was staring at Naruto with her hands intertwined.

"Yeah, probably nothing, I just…how would someone get in here?" he asked. "I mean, it takes a card to get in the building!"

"Didn't you says of your things had gone missing?" Kakashi said, glancing at Lee.

"Yeah?" Naruto answered.

"By chance, are you missing a card key?" Kakashi said with a sigh.

Naruto looked up at him. "Oh."

"Dobe, are you fucking serious? You lost a keycard and you didn't tell me?" Sasuke said.

"I'm sorry, I just…I thought I washed it in my jeans, but…but…" Naruto said with a sigh. "I can't believe this."

"You're going to my house tonight, idiot," Sasuke said and crossed his arms.

"He could come to my apartment," Ino said and Kakashi saw the slight blush hit her cheeks. "It's close."

Before Naruto said anything Sasuke glared at her. "No. My place has a top notch security system and he'll be a hell of a lot safer under the security cameras than at your crappy apartment. You don't even have an extra bedroom for him to sleep in."

Ino sighed and turned away. Sakura glared at Sasuke. "You don't have to be mean about it, Sasuke," she said quietly.

"Fuck off, Sakura," Sasuke said and stood up, yanking Naruto to his feet beside him. "Come on, Lee or whatever the hell your name is, he needs sleep tonight," he said as he stormed toward the door with Naruto stumbling behind him. Lee took off after him.

Kakashi looked at the two girls. He had an idea, though. Time to interview the rest of them, he thought to himself.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Kakashi sat at his desk and had a huge headache. Another three months had passed since Naruto Uzamaki came into his life, and things had not gotten better. Instead, things seemed to have gotten worse. He'd set up a plant inside Naruto's apartment, but there had been no more issues with it. It seemed that whoever was stalking him couldn't get to him at the Uchiha boy's house, but the cards still showed up after shows and in odd places. They were increasingly possessive and violent sounding.

"He Can't Keep You Forever," "I Will Make You Mine," "Enjoy The Attention," "I Don't Like Them Watching You," "Stop Going On Stage," "You Will Sing For Me Only," and many other variations showed up in strange places. Several accompanied sweets or presents left in various places where he'd find them. Luckily, Sasuke found them and sent them to Kakashi via Lee, Tenten, or Neji. All were doped with various drugs. Some were hallucinogenic substances, others were sedatives. There was no purpose other than to scare him because he was under constant watch.

After nearly a year of the constant stalking had left Naruto paranoid about everything. He didn't show it at shows, and to the outside it didn't appear that there was a problem with him. But afterward he would pace and wait for the eventual finding of a card or gift. There was a shift, though, when one night after a show they found Ino knocked out in front of the stage exit. There was a card on her chest.

"She Can't Have You."

Then, it just stopped. Almost a year, and it all stopped. Nothing changed, there were no changes in the people in Naruto's life, they just simply disappeared. Kakashi worried. Usually, something like a disappearance of stalking activity meant the stalker had been arrested or something else had changed. Naruto, though, took it to mean that whoever it was had gotten bored with him and moved one. Kakashi didn't think that was the case at all.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Naruto fell into the sofa backstage and we positively floating on air. The set had been amazing. Nothing had gone wrong, and this was their first time that Shinobi Five had been the main event at the Station. It was amazing and he couldn't have wanted anything to have gone better. Sasuke had even hugged him and smiled about it. They had a really good shot at making it into a bigger venue at this rate. Gaara was standing on the other side of the dressing room and looked around at Naruto.

"I'm going to get a drink, want something?" he asked.

"Yeah, bring me a juice," he said. "My throat is so sore after that last set!" he said with a smile. "Is Lee out there? Bring him something too."

Three months with his four guards had meant they got really close to each other. He liked Lee's excitement, and Neji's quiet seriousness. Tenten was fun, too. He'd actually dozed off when he heard the door open again. He linked wearily and smiled.

"Took you long enough, Gaara. You take Lee something?" he said and turned toward the door just as he felt something slam into his neck. He looked up to see someone with glasses as he passed out.

Sasuke knocked on the dressing room door and looked around. He didn't see Lee, which was strange. He knocked again, but no answer. He opened it and didn't see anyone inside. He was about to close the door when he saw something that made his heart stop. He went in and saw on the sofa that there was a familiar card.

"He's Mine Now."

There was an immediate frenzy as every video feed and every single person in the area was locked down. Lee was found tied up and unconscious in a coat closet. He'd been knocked out with some sort of sedative. Gaara had also been found unconscious behind the stage curtains. Neither Lee nor Gaara had seen what had happened to them. Everyone who should have been backstage had been there, and there was no one who wasn't supposed to be there. No video feed had caught Naruto leaving, and whoever had taken him had been very good at avoiding anyone catching them.

Kakashi had taken all the band members to the station and was trying to calm all of them down. Sasuke was pacing, and Gaara and Shikamaru were talking quietly. Ino and Sakura were both chattering with each other in a worried manner. Kakashi clapped loudly.

"Alright, let's try to figure this out," he said as he looked around.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Kimimaro spent a lot of his time watching TV, reading, or sitting at the window watching the world pass him by. It wasn't like he could do much else. He was desperately hoping that he could live another twenty years, but he knew that it was unlikely. Kimimaro had been diagnosed with fibrodysplasia ossificans progressive at the age of ten when what was thought to be a cancerous tumor had come up in his knee. The biopsy had made the pain worse, and they quickly identified the problem. He'd lost the use of that leg for the most part since then, and for the last two years had been confined to a wheelchair.

"Kimi, you doing okay in there?" Haku called from the kitchen.

"Yeah, just watching the sun set," he said with a smile.

Haku was his caretaker. He'd lost the use of his hands for the most part when it came to fine motor skills after an incident where he's injured his fingers. The more damage his body took, the quicker the disease would turn tissue into bone. It was eventually going to be like he was trapped inside his own body, unable to move, and if he was lucky, he'd die before then. Haku came in, smiling as usual. Kimimaro was eternally grateful for the young man. He'd been one of the best things in his world since he came into it. He set the tray down on the small table and rolled it toward him.

"There, Kimi. Need help, or can you handle it today?" he asked, brushing his hair from his eyes.

"Oh, I think I'm fine. But could you bring me my binoculars and my recorder? I want to pontificate on the sunset and the skyline tonight," he said with a nod to the young man. He said young man, but he wasn't that much older. Kimimaro was only twenty four himself, and Haku was nineteen. Still, Kimimaro felt so much older than that. However, when half your life is gone, it makes one feel old.

Kimimaro ate his dinner slowly, savoring it as he did so. He had learned that savoring the moments around him was more important now than ever. He sighed deeply though, watching people walk by his window. He lived in a nice townhouse style building, tall and thin. It was the second unit from the west end of the row. The end unit was taken by a very strange man who always bothered him. Kabuto or something was his name. He'd come by and talked to him one day about his condition, seemingly fascinated as a med student.

He heard Haku coming back down the stairs. There were technically three levels to the units, but because of Kimimaro's condition, he had converted the living room downstairs into his bedroom and gave Haku the actual bedroom upstairs for his use. Luckily, there was a small bathroom downstairs as well as the upper level. There was also a small storage basement, but honestly, even before he lost the ability to walk, he'd never gone down there. He'd actually locked the place off, mostly because it smelled eternally musty. There were six units in the building, but he didn't know the new neighbors on the east of him, he thought Kiba and Hinata had been the couple that moved in there. He knew down further was a couple of college guys who split the place upstairs and down like he and Haku did, Yoroi Akadō and Misumi Tsurugi. The next couple down had been there forever it seemed, and he noticed that Kurenai Yūhi was pregnant the last time he'd seen her. He understood now why her fiancé Asuma Sarutobi looked so pleased with himself lately. At the east end of the building, there was a very strange college student named Shino who had a fixation with bugs. He seemed to remember he was going to school to be an entomologist or something.

"Here you are, Kimi. Ring me if you need anything, I'm beat!" Haku said as he put the buzzer down beside Kimimaro's hand.

"Sure thing, thanks so much," he said with a sigh as he picked up the binoculars and looked out into the sky. He enjoyed watching the world go by even if he couldn't be involved in it. Before he knew it, it was well into the wee hours of the morning. He should go to sleep, he supposed, but the stars were so attractive tonight.

He was simply watching through the thin curtain when he saw something odd. He moved the curtain just enough that he could see without revealing himself. Was that Kabuto? He was dragging something very big and somewhat heavy by the look. That was odd. And it was well after dark. Why would anyone be dragging in new purchases this time of night? He grabbed his binoculars and tried to get a better look. He knew Haku would chide him for spying but what else was he supposed to do? He couldn't tell anything much other than it was indeed a large bag…like body bag sized bag. But that was impossible…unless. He put the binoculars down.

"October 23rd, spotted neighbor Kabuto entering his unit with what appears to be a body bag by initial observation. Putting that with his position as a graduate student in the medical program at Tokyo University, I would hypothesize that he has brought home a cadaver without anyone knowing about it. Curious, and likely not something he should be doing, but I'll keep an eye, or nose, rather, out for strange smells coming from next door. It is possible that the bag could be innocuous, but as he is bringing such a thing home at almost two in the morning. Continued observation expected," he said into the recorder and put it in his shirt pocket.

He sighed and picked up the buzzer for Haku and rolled over to the hospital bed. He slid himself into it and used his remote to douse the lights and the TV, falling deeply asleep quickly. It wasn't like a medical student dragging a cadaver home was really that odd.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Naruto woke up with a massive headache. He tried to move but found his hands were bound behind him. He moaned and opened his eyes slowly. It smelled damp and dark. Every notecard appeared in his mind's eye. Every strange thing that had happened in the last year came roiling back to him.

"Hello?" he called.

"Hello," he heard someone answer behind him. He tried to look behind him but he couldn't.

"Who…who are you?" Naruto asked, feeling the stress on his shoulders. "Wha…what's happening?"

"You're mine, my _Kogitsune_ , my very own prey, captured and set before me," he heard the voice say and Naruto swallowed thickly. "I told you that it would be like this."

Naruto looked as someone came around from behind him. He frowned. He recognized this person. He'd only met him a couple times.

"Aren't…aren't…you a teacher or something?" he said, staring at him.

"Kabuto. I'm a grad student. I teach a class every semester. I've been watching you a while now," he said with a sigh. He reached out and caressed his face. "You are so lovely, and you have a beautiful voice. I wanted it for myself, you see," he said. "The voice, that was what drew me…the cries of need and desperation…"

Naruto pulled his face away from his hand. "What…what do you mean… Need and desperation? That makes no sense before now, you kidnapped me!" he said.

"I took you away from those awful people who didn't appreciate you, my _Kogitsune_ ," Kabuto said as he reached up and adjusted his round silver framed glasses. "I can fully appreciate you."

"Then let me go," he said, looking around frantically. Panic wasn't something Naruto actually did often. In fact, the only time that he had ever been in a panic was when he was lying bleeding on the roadside while his parents screamed in agony as they burned… "I don't…why are you calling me that? Why are you saying these things? Please, just let me go, please, I…I'm scared and I don't want to be here!"

He seemed to be in a basement of some sort. He smelled damp earth, and it felt wet around him. He saw shelves around him and his hands were tied behind him on a pole of some sort. He tried to kick with his foot where the guy knelt in front of him. Kabuto caught his ankle with an exasperated looking face. Kabuto stared at his eyes for a long time, and then simply gripped his heel in one hand, and the end of his foot in the other. Then he quickly twisted his hands to the outside. Naruto stared in shock as he watched his foot twist and there was a loud popping sound before it moved sideways. It took a long moment before he felt the pain as it shot up his leg. His mouth worked for a moment and he wondered if that had just really happened.

"I'm sorry about this," Kabuto said as he put down the now obviously broken ankle. "But you are too precious to me to escape, _Kogitsune_." He reached over and did the same to the other ankle, snapping the bones quickly and effectively. "You'll have to depend on me, you see, _Kogitsune_. And you'll love me like no one else. Like I love you," he said as he looked up at him. "Don't scream. I'll break your jaw too, and if I do that, I'll simply thread a tube through your nose to feed you with," he said with a grin. "See, I'm in the medical program, so no matter what, I can take care of you."

Naruto was too surprised to even do more but whimper in pain. He'd broke both his ankles. Just like that, just broke them both as easily as breathing. "H-How…"

"How did I do that so easily?" Kabuto said, stroking his hands up Naruto's calves. "It is exceedingly easy to break bones, especially at a joint, just the right amount of torque and there you have it. So you'll have to do what I say, or I won't give you comforts."

"Comforts?" Naruto gasped as he watched the skin on his legs beginning to purple and puff around his ankles. "What…what do you mean…"

"Why, using the bathroom, a shower, leaving the basement…those sort of things. I want to be nice to you, I do, but you have to earn my trust, my _Kogitsune_. So I'll leave you here for a while. I have to go to the school, you know. Not showing up after your very public disappearance last night would look bad. Your little friend Sakura and the whore Ino is in my class, after all. I was tempted to poison her, you know, the whore."

"What…why…what do you mean?" Naruto asked with a panic starting to set into him.

"The whore was vying for your affections. It was beginning to grate on my nerves. I had intended to legitimately woo you, my dear. But she kept pushing…talking in my class about how wonderful you were, and how you responded to her affection…"

"Ino?" Naruto asked. "I don't like her like that, she's Sakura's friend, she…she's just a friend. Don't…don't hurt her…"

"I don't have to hurt her, if you are a good boy for me," Kabuto said with a smirk as he leaned forward and kissed Naruto's forehead gently. "But if you aren't…I'll kill them all. I brought you here, and no one knew it. No one caught me, and no one was able to stop me in a year. I can get to them all, and I can make sure they all die."

"Please, let me go, I won't tell anyone about this, okay? I promise, I'll just…" Naruto started but then gasped as he shoved a ball into his mouth and clasped something around behind his head.

"There now, hush," Kabuto said with a sly smile. "I can't have you summoning anyone from outside. And I have a very nosy neighbor."

Naruto stared at him in complete horror as he stood and went up the stairs. The door slammed loudly as he left. Naruto had no idea what happened. He didn't even know this guy that well. He had met him once or twice… This was the person that had been stalking him? This was who had left all those cards and took his things? He dropped his head to the pillar behind him and only had one thought. He wished Sasuke were here.


	2. Playing Doctor

Chapter Two

Playing Doctor

"Alright, class, make sure that you finish the section on paralytics this weekend," Kabuto said as he looked up to the clock. "Unless you go into anesthesiology, it won't pertain to you, however it is worth it to know a few things about it. Now, any questions before we end today's class?"

Sakura raised her hand slowly. He nodded at her. "Um, Kabuto-senpai, is there something that can be injected into someone that makes them unconscious for a short time?"

"Of course, there are several compounds. While I'd love to discuss that, I think that's more of a one on one discussion rather than keeping the class here forever to sate your curiosity, Sakura-chan."

The rest of the class left and Sakura and Ino walked up to the front nervously. Kabuto smiled at them. "Now, what is it?"

"Um, well, I was wondering, I was doing a…report…in another class about non-lethal immobilization techniques, and um…tranquilizer guns were the idea, but I wanted to know what kind of drugs were effective in them," Ino said nervously. "Sakura was helping me with it this weekend."

Kabuto nodded. "Well, there's several, do you want to write this down?" he said, looking between them.

"Oh, yes, of course, Senpai," Ino said and pulled a notebook out of the bag.

Kabuto nodded. "It's a long list, here, so stop me if you need me to repeat," he said with a smile. "Azaperone, Detomidine, Combelen, Sodium Thiopental, Fentanyl or Carfentanyl, Haloperidol, Etorphine hydrochloride, Domosedan, diazepam, midazolam, Xylazine, and there's this other thing that they use called Immobilon, this mix of etorphine and a phenothiazine tranquillizer like acepromazine or methotrimeprazine. I think that's most of the ones that would even begin to be effective for that purpose. I mean, there are others, like the date rape drugs GHB, and the other things like that, you could use anti psychotics to a degree, but that's hinging on impacting survivability…" he said thoughtfully.

"You sure know a lot about this," Sakura said.

"Pharmacology and psycho pharmacology is my secondary specialty," Kabuto said with a smile. "My primary is psychiatrics. You got me at the right time, I have a huge test in a couple weeks on drugs that easily cross the blood brain barrier. Otherwise I would have go through several books in order to answer the question."

Sakura and Ino exchanged a glance. "Um, say someone got hit with one of those, would there be side effects?"

"Of course, but they wouldn't last long, of course," he said with a nod. "This is all hypothetical, right?" he asked them, looking slightly concerned.

"Um, yeah, no just for a project, um, I was working with Sasuke Uchiha, he's in Law, and we were talking about non lethal take down methods and how effective they'd be," Sakura assured him.

Kabuto nodded. "Well, any of those things would be problematic in a delivery system, just because concentrations in a dart would have be very high to act quickly. You certainly wouldn't want to be armed with a tranquilizer dart facing a dangerous suspect, it just won't work fast enough. Those are only really effective in rather large dosages, like with a syringe, which I doubt a raging suspect would let you stick them with."

Sakura laughed nervously. "Yeah, I guess you're right, there, Senpai," she said with a smile.

"Other than your project, you girls have any plans for the weekend?" he asked as he gathered his books. "Is your band playing anywhere? Something Five, wasn't it? I can't keep up with the social world these days, bogged down in so much work."

"Shinobi Five, Senpai. Ah, no, thanks for the information, though, we're taking the week off because of the work for class," Sakura said and tried to smile.

Kabuto walked out with them. "Too bad, I have a free weekend, I thought I'd try and catch a show if you were playing somewhere. I hear you have been getting a lot of notice lately."

"Yeah, um, we have to go, Senpai," Sakura said and they took off leaving Kabuto to watch them go. He glanced at his phone. It was nearly one. Only three more hours until he could leave and play with his new toy at home.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Sasuke paced back and forth in a place he really, really hadn't wanted to come to. The lobby was busy, as always, and he was irritated already. For one thing, he shouldn't have to wait in the fucking lobby to see his brother. He owned half of the company, anyway. That was the main reason he was going to law school. He had plans to become the COO or maybe CFO before he was done. He'd let Itachi have the CEO position. It was too visible for his liking. Besides, the real power came from other positions.

"Uchiha-san?" the receptionist called. "Uchiha-sama will see you now," she said with a sweet smile.

"About fucking time," he muttered as he went to the private elevator and put in his code. There were several muttered comments behind him as he left.

It was true, he didn't look like the heir to a Fortune 500 company. Sasuke kept his hair in a fade undercut with long top that parted in the middle. He'd pierced his nose on the left, and both ears had several industrials and studs, and small gauges in the lobes. He had a set of snake bites on his lip, and his tongue was pierced at the end and the center. The piercings had a been a huge point of contention with his brother, but it didn't mean he listened. He wore his usual outfit even though he was visiting his brother. He refused to dress up for him. He walked into his office and glared at him.

"Sasuke, you could have at least worn slacks instead of ratty jeans," Itachi said with a sigh.

"Yeah, well, you could lay off."

"What do you want?" Itachi said as he put down his pen. "You never show up unless you want something from me."

Sasuke sighed. "Yeah, so, you know my friend Naruto, right?"

Itachi nodded. "Yeah…he's that boy you made the lead singer of that silly band you made."

"It's not a silly band, Itachi, Shinobi Five headlined the station last night," he growled at him.

Itachi looked up from the paperwork. "Really? That…is actually impressive, little brother…something is not right, though," he said.

Sasuke dropped into the seat in front of the desk. "Someone kidnapped Naruto last night after the show."

"Someone what?" Itachi said with a frown.

"Yeah. He's been stalked for almost a year now. Well, it had stopped for a while, then last night, they knocked out the police that were watching him and he's gone, and we have no idea. He was under guard, Itachi. And we were there. No one knows how or who," he said with a sigh. "I should have been with him."

Itachi nodded. "What do you want me to do?"

"I don't know if you can, I just…the police are at a loss. They have no idea and no way to trace it," he said as he put a zipped baggie on the table containing one of the cards.

"I can see what research can come up with," Itachi offered because he saw something in his stoic little brother he hadn't seen before. He was worried for this other boy. He wondered if there was more going on than just concern for a bandmate. "Anything else?"

"Um, Inspector Kakashi Hatake is the head of the special vicitm's division of the criminal investigations. He's got a team on it, but…he's worried that this level of stalking means a high level of preparation, and since he's been able to leave those cards everywhere the idiot has been…"

"No cameras have caught anything?" Itachi asked, turning the card over. This one had the snake eye below the statement "You Belong To Me."

"Nothing. Whoever this is seems to avoid them somehow. Like I have no idea how," Sasuke said and sighed.

Itachi nodded. "No one comes to mind that would try to come after him?" he asked.

"Naruto doesn't have family, his parents were killed in a car accident when he was a kid, the one that left him with the scars on his cheeks where his face went through the window," he commented, tracing his fingers down his own face where the scars ran down Naruto's cheeks. They weren't super visible, but the skin was subtly lighter there from the scar tissue. Sasuke thought when he got really worked up on stage, they looked like whiskers. "Um, other than that, he went to high school with Sakura, then she introduced him to me. He's got a great voice, good tenor, but he can hit alto and soprano notes if he works at it for a bit…He's energetic as fuck. I can't imagine if anyone abducted him that they wouldn't kill him because he's so damn annoying…"

"Annoying, huh?" Itachi asked with a smirk. "Alright, hey, I'll talk to this Inspector and see if we can help. Maybe there's some security cameras we run that caught something that whoever this is missed. Any idea if the kidnapper is male or female?"

Sasuke looked up. "I…didn't think about that. I guess it could be either. I can't imagine a girl carrying him out of there easily, he's not big but he's not a little guy either. Unless she had help. But…there's…um…"

"Well, has he expressed more interest in one over the other? If he pays more attention to the girls, it might be an obsessed girl rather than a guy."

"Not really, I mean, he doesn't pay any attention to Ino, Sakura's friend. He never seems bothered by anyone touching him in the meets after shows. I think he's been manhandled more than I could have tolerated by fans. He just shrugs it off. Hell, he even had a girl ask him to sign her boob. He didn't seem bothered by it, just did it and moved on to shake hands with the next person," Sasuke said with a shrug. "I can't see a girl, though, getting him out of the back of The Station without being noticed, unless she was really big and built. I mean, it's possible."

"No one that was constantly trying to get to him?" Itachi asked.

"Other than Ino? No, but she was part of our group, so she saw him every day," he said with a shrug.

Itachi nodded. "Alright, little brother. I'll look into things. Let you know if I turn up anything." Itachi looked at him for a long moment as he sat there and stared at him. "We'll find him, Sasuke. I'll help you."

"Not like I really care," he growled and got up, turning away and storming out the door.

Itachi sighed, pushing the button. "Send in one of boys. Seems that my little brother's boyfriend has gotten himself into trouble…"

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Naruto thought the day was never going to end. He felt like he was locked in some sort of nightmarish half waking and half sleeping state. He'd left him sometime before dawn. He could see the barest sliver of light on the other side of the basement from a blacked-out window. He had no idea how long had passed, but even without food and water, his bladder was trying to tell him that he had to use the toilet soon or he was going to wet himself. Somehow, the simple thought of that kind of humiliation was more than he could stand. He couldn't move either leg without pain shooting up both of them. He could see his ankles were swollen and purple under the hem of the jeans he was wearing. It was actually getting painfully tight around them. He held back a sob and worked his hands in the bindings again and then realized why it was so difficult. They were zip cuffs. He couldn't even dislocate his thumbs to get out. Not that he even knew how to do that, he'd just seen it in movies.

When the door banged open suddenly, he sat up and saw that it was him again. He looked so normal, carrying a medical bag of some sort as he hummed to himself coming down the stairs. Naruto started to yell, but of course it was completely muffled by the ball gag. By this point, spit had dripped down from the corners of his mouth and soaked most of his shirt down the front.

"Until you learn your place, I won't punish you for talking out of turn. At least, not much. We have rules around here, understand?" he said softly as he put both hands on Naruto's face, locking his eyes onto Naruto's.

"I've thought your eyes were very beautiful from the first day I saw you," he said as he ran his thumbs around the outside of his eyes. "And all I wanted was to have them look only on me."

Naruto just stared at him, heart beating rapidly. What did this guy want with him? Why was he doing this?

"Now, the rules, my little songbird. The rules are simple. You do what you're told, you get to earn some freedom. But, you fight me, you get punished." He reached over and opened the bag beside him. "Now, since you don't know what punishments you'll receive, you can't properly be afraid of them, can you?" he said with a smirk as he pulled out a small case from the bag and opened it. It had several long thin rods in it.

Naruto squirmed a bit, looking at him with what he hoped was a pleading face. He looked at him. "Oh, I imagine you have to urinate, don't you?"

Naruto nodded furiously. Kabuto smiled slowly. "As good a time to see if you can earn it," Kabuto said with a smirk as he took a box knife from his pocket and leaned around to slice the cuffs off Naruto's wrists.

Honestly, he would have made a run for it. No matter what danger, but he knew it was impossible with his ankles in the state they were in. Kabuto smiled and leaned down, picking him up in his arms easily. He was stronger than he looked, Naruto thought as he hefted him with ease. Naruto couldn't do anything except hold onto him as they moved into what looked like a half-built bathroom. It had a toilet and an open floor shower, though. He sat Naruto down on the closed seat and began to undo his jeans when Naruto tried to push him away.

"Oh, no. No, that's not a good patient," he said and grabbed Naruto's face, slamming his head back into the wall. "You don't ever push me away, understand?" he breathed into his ear. Naruto's hands fluttered, mostly from shock. "I own every part of you, or do you not see this yet? I didn't bring you hear to make you merely my lover. You are mine. Every single bit of you, from your body, to your mind, and your very soul belong to me. And you will give them all to me, because if you don't give them to me, I'll take it anyway, and then, I'll take out your resistance on your friends. I saw Sakura and Ino today, you know. They're asking questions about sedatives and what happens when people get them. They haven't a clue, my _Kogitsune_. No clue whatsoever."

Naruto swallowed against the gag repeatedly, wanting to reach up to pull it away but he couldn't do it. Kabuto smiled suddenly and stepped back. "But you don't know all the rules yet, so I'll let that minor infraction slide. Do it again, and I'll break your wrists to match your ankles, and then I won't have to worry about you even trying to move."

Naruto just nodded slowly as he started undoing the jeans and slipping them down off his hips carefully, but they stuck at his ankles.

"Oh, they swelled more than I expected," Kabuto said, standing and going in the other room to get something.

Naruto scooted forward a bit and experimentally put pressure on his right foot. The pain that shot up his leg almost made him yelp. Thankfully, the gag muffled it. He could try, though. He could try and yank his jeans back up and stand. It couldn't be that hard to stand with broken bones, could it? He put his other foot tentatively beside the first and again held back a yelp of pain. He looked to the doorway and didn't see him, so he tried to stand.

The pain was like nothing he'd ever experienced and he did scream as he tumbled down to the floor in agony now. He heard Kabuto before he saw him. He turned his face toward the door and realized that he was going to regret the attempt to stand. His face was inscrutable though as he walked toward him. He knelt and then grabbed his hair and yanked his head as far back as he could pull it.

"Now, that was not smart, but I did not yet tell you the consequences for what you do wrong, so I'll give you one more bit of leeway. Well, kind of," he muttered as he looked over Naruto's shoulder at the open shower. He smirked down at him. "Hold that thought, might as well do some of this in here. That way I can clean you up afterward easier…" he said as he got up and left again.

Naruto didn't want to know what he was planning, so he tried to get to his feet again, feeling extremely exposed but not caring as he got to his knees finally. If he could just…

His head was spinning madly as bells went off in his ears as he felt he was moving again, toward the shower this time. It was one of those showers that had been built over a basement drain, so it had the big holes in it that just about anything would go down. Naruto heard a clink and realized that he'd handcuffed him this time but he yanked his hands up to the bar on the side. He was now sitting against the splash wall, arms almost stretched to their limit above him.

Kabuto hummed to himself as he took a pair of blunt tipped scissors and began cutting away the rest of his clothes deftly with them. Naruto whimpered behind the gag. Kabuto smiled at him as he pushed his legs apart and knelt there.

"Now, I told you that I was going to make you hurt to show you what kind of punishments were in order if you disobey me," he said in a deathly still voice. "So, first, since you have a full bladder, it is the ideal time to do this," he said as he pressed on Naruto's belly gently.

Naruto whimpered and shook his head emphatically. "Oh no, this," Kabuto said as he picked up a long thin rod. "This is a sound. Simple, right? I love sounds. Musical variety, as well as these types. "This is small one, I promise, we'll go slow, unless you anger me," he said with a grin as he reached down to grip his prisoner's cock in his hands. "But this won't do," he said as he began rubbing and stroking him. "You're a young thing, not quite twenty if I remember right, so this shouldn't take too long to react to a little bit of…there…" he muttered.

Naruto couldn't understand his betraying body as he touched him into arousal. It didn't help that it had been a week or so before he'd managed himself down there. He'd just been to busy to worry about such trivial things. He whined loudly behind the gag as he took one of the rods and put something from a bottle on it. He smiled and slid the somewhat tapered end into the tip of the urethra. Naruto shook his head and tried to use his knees to push him away but he couldn't get any leverage on the slick floor.

"Good, good, what a good patient, my toy _Kogitsune_ ," Kabuto said as he worked the silver object deeper and deeper into him. "Don't worry, when I take you upstairs I'll have to give you a catheter for while I'm gone during the day. I'm working on a nice space hidden under my bed for you to stay while I'm at the school," he said as he slid the awful thing the rest of the way to the ball at the end. "Isn't that nice?" he said as he sat back and smiled at his work.

Don't worry? What was wrong with this man!? He thought as he stared at his throbbing cock. His bladder was going to explode as well, and he'd just shoved this down into it… He looked up at him and was starting to feel tears falling down his face. He started begging, but the words were muffled. His captor seemed unaffected by his pleading as he squirmed back trying to hold himself back…

"Aww, I can't say no to that face," Kabuto said as he reached down and slowly slid the sound out of him. Naruto glanced at the toilet and Kabuto shook his head. "No, you don't get to use that yet," he whispered as he leaned forward and pressed the flat of his hand directly into his bladder hard. At that point, it wasn't a matter of stopping it, it was simply a flood of relief followed by incredible shame.

Kabuto lifted his face, seeing he was bright red. He ran a finger over the scars over his cheeks. "They're like whiskers," he muttered. "They get so red when you are ashamed. I shall have to make that happen as much as possible. I may have to deepen the marks…" he said as he leaned forward and kissed each cheek gently. "You are just like a fox, free and spirited, hard to catch, and tricky. I think I shall keep my little fox well."

Kabuto smiled then was kneeling back a bit to look him over. "Look at you, all spread out so nicely for me," he muttered, chewing his lip for a second. "I had told myself to wait for this, to make it special…"

Naruto's heart was pounding in his ears. He shook his head violently and started to yank harder on cuffs above him. Kabuto reached up and squeezed both his wrists together until the bones ground against each other and smiled at him. "Don't worry, I'll make sure you enjoy it too," he said as he leaned forward and started to suck hard on a spot at his neck. He couldn't even begin to push him away like this. He tried, though, kicking despite the pain shooting up both his legs as he felt his hand slide under him.

This was not happening, he told himself. No…no…this wasn't how this was supposed to happen…not at all… He tried to turn away as he felt his slick fingers slide inside him, burning as the delved deeper into him than he'd ever attempted on himself. It wasn't like he'd never done that…he had…fantasized about someone else doing it to him, of course… The tiles were slippery and his feet, even if he could have stood the pressure, wouldn't hold purchase anyway as he pressed into him with another finger and kept biting his shoulder and neck. He felt blood, he knew, running down his front. He felt Kabuto licking his shoulder now, lapping the blood it seemed.

"Hmm, I hadn't thought of how sweet it would be," he said, leaning back and shoving Naruto's legs wider. "I also didn't know how beautiful it would be to watch my fingers open you. Oh, my dear little fox kit, you'll learn to crave my touch," he muttered, sliding three fingers in and out slowly, watching the glistening lubricant in the dim light. "So lovely…the mechanics, you know, the body is so fragile here," he said as he looked up at the frightened boy. "Don't worry, if I tear you, I have sutures ready in my bag. I'll fix anything I break," he said, sliding his fingers out and looking at the remaining lube stringing between them as he opened and closed them. The medical grade lubricant was quite effective, both for the sounds and for this. Sticky and thick.

Naruto shook his head as Kabuto stood up, unbuttoning his slacks and stepping out of them to kneel in front of him. "When I can trust you, you'll learn to use your mouth, but for now, I can't trust my little sharp toothed fox. Well, you aren't sharp toothed yet…"

Naruto looked down and him as he slipped up between him, pressing the tip against his already throbbing entrance. His "preparation" had been laughable, to be honest. He shook his head as he yelled at him to stop through the gag, but it was a muffled jumble. Instead, Kabuto slid his hands up the backs of Naruto's thighs, stopping at the back of his knees and pushing his legs back as he pressed forward. Naruto gasped and tried to push him off but it wasn't going to happen. Despite the resistance, Kabuto pressed forward with agonizing slowness until he was seated inside the trembling body under him.

"Oh, my, it was all worth it," he whispered as he let go of Naruto's legs and moved his hands down to his hips. "So hot inside, my sweet _Kogitsune_. So hot as though I could melt in there with you forever."

He slid back and watched himself, noting a bit of blood, but not too much, as he slid back into him, again, so slowly. He continued the slow rhythm for as long as he could stand it. He looked up at Naruto's pinched face, tears flowing freely now and he leaned up to kiss his cheek. "I'm so sorry, but I can't hold back," he whispered as he pulled back and slammed forward hard enough to crack Naruto's head onto the tile behind him. Thankfully, the stars before his eyes made everything fuzz out for a while. When he came back to clarity, Kabuto slammed into him again and clutched him as he emptied into him. He panted and held him as though he were lover, not a chained up captive. He leaned back and kissed his tear stained cheeks.

"Oh, my dear, so lovely, now I'll take care of you," he said as he dropped to his stomach on the floor.

Naruto's eyes went wide as he started to suck his completely uninterested cock into his mouth. However, a few minutes of oral ministrations, and Naruto couldn't contain the intense orgasm that hit him. He panted as he watched Kabuto come up and look at him.

"There now, better," Kabuto said as he spit into the drain. "Now, a little clean up," he said with a smile as he pulled down the showerhead and turned it on. He spent more time than Naruto thought necessary with his fingers inside him "cleaning him out". He just wanted him to leave, to just go away, leave him alone again…

Kabuto put the showerhead back and then grabbed a towel to dry him off quickly. He left again and came back with a blanket. He unhooked the chain from above Naruto's head and clipped it to a bar at the bottom of the shower stall where the side was built up to keep the water in. "There now, all you have to do is move a bit if you need to urinate into the drain, and I'll put this cover on the floor here, and another for you to cover with. When you've earned some nice things, I'll take you upstairs to share my bed, but you have to be a good _Kogitsune_."

He stood up and left him there, covered in the damp cold basement. But the shivers and the sobs that came afterward had nothing to do with the cold at all.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Haku looked at Kimimaro. "I doubt he brought a body home," Haku said with a sigh.

"Well, explain a body bag?"

"You were mistaken. Probably got a new rug or something," Haku said as he put down the plates for their breakfast.

"You don't understand, it was body shaped, I'm not mistaken. I bet he's cutting up a cadaver over there in his spare time. Down in that basement."

"I doubt that, Kimi. You really are getting paranoid these days, you need to cut down on the crime dramas," he said with a sigh.

They ate in silence and then Haku cleared things away. "I'll be back, going to pick up your new prescriptions. Don't bother the neighbor, please!" he said as he left.

Kimimaro sighed and glanced at his basement door. He wondered if he could manage stairs today. He ground his teeth together for a second and then wheeled over to it. He spun the combination lock and opened it easily enough and sighed. He grabbed the cane he kept by the door. He had one at every door or stairwell. He stood up shakily with it and grabbed the railing. It took time, but he managed to get down the stairs with no incidents. He looked around and then hobbled to the west wall. There was a small bathroom there. He put his ear against the wall, wondering if he'd hear anything.

What he thought he heard was a person sobbing. Just faintly, through the wall. The walls here weren't the best, especially in the basement. It sounded like a guy, so he supposed it could have been Kabuto, but he didn't see him as a sobbing type of person. He couldn't be sure. For all he knew it could have been a television. He hobbled his way unsteadily back up the stairs and sat back down in his wheelchair. Something just wasn't right, he thought as he wheeled up to window again. Haku had left his tea out by the window. He pulled back the curtains and watched people go by. A few seconds later he saw Kabuto come out and leave.


	3. My Kogitsune

Chapter Three

My _Kogitsune_

 _Almost Twenty Years Ago_

The little boy stood outside the orphanage and stared into the nearby woods. He thought he'd heard something. He wasn't sure, though. He'd been here at this orphanage for a week now. He reached up and rubbed his forehead under the bandage. He looked over and heard someone talking nearby.

Nonō Yakushi watched from the doorway as their newest child at Konoha Orphanage outside of Tokyo's outskirts. He seemed distant. She looked up as one of the other caretakers walked up to her. "Where did you find him?" the older lady asked.

He was just sitting in the middle of a road not too far from here with the head wound. He can't remember anything about who he is, it seems." Nonō sighed deeply. She smiled as one of the other children, a gregarious little boy named Urushi walked up to him.

"You need a helmet!" he said and shoved a metal spaghetti strainer over his bandaged head. The boy looked at him and blinked owlishly. The night before Nonō had given him a pair of glasses when she realized that the child couldn't see well. Urushi smiled and put his hands on his hips. "You don't have a name either! You are gonna be Kabuto!" he said and nodded in affirmation. "Now don't hit your head again, Kabuto!"

He took off and ran down into the forested area. The little boy watched him and saw the woman that rescued him disappear back into the building with the older woman. He turned as he heard the sound again. It was something like a squeak or meow or something. Strange, he thought, as he walked slowly toward the small wood. At almost six years old, he had no idea where he had come from. And he also had no idea where he was going. He only knew that he was different and he was alone. He kept walking toward the pitiful sounding creature that he heard. As he got closer, the cries became panicked and desperate. He knew why soon.

There was the front quarters and head of a fox kit, a very small one, most likely a runt of a some sort. It was making horrific sounds and looked odd.

He tipped his head to the side and realized why. It was being consumed by a snake, still alive and trying to escape. The snake had coiled around it tightly, and it was slowly swallowing it down from the tail end to the front. Kabuto had knelt down, watching the struggle and wondering which would win. He could have saved the baby fox. But the sounds it made were so pitiful and made his heart beat faster. He wasn't afraid, not at all. He knew it was a Mamushi, and he knew that he shouldn't be this close to it. They were deadly.

As the fox's front paws disappeared into the unhinged looking jaw of the snake he was sad. He wasn't sad that the fox had been swallowed whole. He was sad because the act was complete. He'd never seen something so amazing in his life as the snake curled up, a large bulge in the middle that was still moving slightly. The snake seemed to be sated and unafraid of him. He reached out and pushing on the bulge and feeling the fox struggle against the confines ineffectively. He sat there until the bulge inside the full snake moved no more.

"Kabuto?" Nonō said from the doorway of the orphanage. "Dinner is ready."

Kabuto smiled and watched as the sluggish and overfull snake inched away from him. "Yeah, I'm starving," he said as he turned and ran back to the doorway. He smiled brightly at Nonō and was led in for food. Still, the little boy with no name dreamed again and again, watching that whiskered face disappearing into the snake and his heart wanted to beat from his chest when he woke. He didn't know what it meant, but he wanted to find out.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

 _Present_

"Sir, so, you're reporting that your neighbor has stolen a cadaver and taken it into his house? And ah, what evidence do you base this on? Are you sure it wasn't just a big rug?" Yamato was regretting being the desk officer on duty this weekend already as he put his hand on his head. Around him, the rest of the room was filled with people not dealing with crazy housebound people. "Look, I am taking you seriously, it is just…highly unlikely that anyone would take a cadaver. I understand that he's a med student. Alright, look, I'll send an officer round, will that work for you?"

Yamato put the phone down and waved at Sergeant Iruka Umino. He was one of the heads in the community safety division. "Yo, Iruka, that paranoid housebound invalid called in again. Go check it out," he said handing him the note.

"He thinks he took a cadaver home. Or something. He thinks he saw him dragging a body bag into the house Friday morning at around two am. Last time wasn't it one of the neighbors was smuggling drugs and it turned out that she had brought home several sacks of flour for Christmas baking?" he asked, looking up.

"Yeah, so it is probably the same thing."

"Do I go in and search the house?" he asked.

"Eh, I'd just go see if there's a smell or anything weird. You know how this dude is," he said with a sigh.

"Alright, I'll call in if I need anything, but really…I doubt it. This is like five or six times in the last year," he muttered and looked at it again.

He headed to his car and headed to Kimimaro's apartment. He knocked on the door. Haku answered as always.

"Kimi, did you seriously call the police again?" he said with a long suffering sigh.

Kimimaro rolled into the foyer. "Well you didn't think it was important. Obviously it is important enough to send someone around."

Haku started to speak but Iruka put his hand up. "No problem, Haku, I'll check it out and let you know if we find anything wrong. I know that Kimimaro worries over people around here a lot."

Iruka honestly didn't mind too awful much when he came by. He was supposed to take care of community security, after all. He thought that sometimes the things the guy saw were really odd, though. He had a very vivid imagination, Iruka had found. He sighed went next door and knocked on the Kabuto's door. He opened it after a few seconds.

"Oh, can I help you?" Kabuto said and pushed his glasses up his nose.

Iruka had met Kabuto a few times, and he seemed like a nice enough fellow. He was always nervous seeming, or just awkward maybe, though, and something just seemed a bit off about him. It was the sort of thing that tickles at the back of the mind but can't get any further.

"Just a wellbeing check. There was an anonymous call that someone thought they saw someone dragging a body bag down the sidewalk recently. Silly, I know, but have you seen anything out of sorts?" he asked with a shrug.

Kabuto shook his head and pushed his longish hair behind his ears. "No, I don't think so. Would you like to come in and look around? I mean, I don't have any body bags or anything, but if you need to come in…"

"Ah, well, I'll step in for a minute so I can tell the boss I've checked all the places in this row thoroughly," he said with a nod.

Kabuto nodded. "Gotta keep the boss happy, huh?"

Iruka followed Kabuto into the place. "Huh, these are actually pretty spacious…" he said as he looked around. It looked identical to the one next door but Kabuto had a sparse living room set up where Kimimaro's had his bedroom. Featured on one wall was a large tryptic ukiyo-e of foxes. It was the only real wall decoration, but it was quite nice. Iruka glanced around and saw that he had a futon on one side, a small television, and a low table. The only other real feature was a lamp that had a base that looked like a coiled snake holding up the shade.

Kabuto nodded. "Oh yes, they are quite nice," he said turned and looked at Iruka placidly.

"You get on with the neighbors pretty well?" Iruka asked as he glanced around, taking a moment to sniff at the air. No perfumes, no air fresheners, no odd smells at all.

Kabuto nodded. "Yeah, actually I do. I sometimes get annoyed at Kiba's mutt, Akamaru I think his name is. He comes sniffing around the back of the house now and then, but that's about it. He always apologizes afterward, so it doesn't really bother me. Can I get you tea?" he asked as he stepped into the kitchen.

"Oh, no thank you. I've just always thought these houses were interesting, the way there's six of them like this. There's a second bedroom upstairs and a small basement in them, aren't there?" he asked with a glance at the narrow stairs.

Kabuto nodded. "Yeah, the basements are very nice though, just mostly dirt with a shower built into the side and a toilet. Looks like someone tried to make another room down there and just gave up," he said with a snort. "Come on, you gotta see it to believe it. I was surprised when I moved in," he said and led Kabuto to the basement stairs.

Iruka shrugged. "Sure," he said as Kabuto took him down into the basement and showed him the unfinished space. He shook his head and glanced at Kabuto. "Why would anyone just stop halfway with this kind of work?" Iruka asked.

Kabuto shrugged. "No idea, but one of these days when I'm not so busy, or I find a…romantic interest…that has an aptitude for construction to do it…"

Iruka nodded. "But the upstairs bedroom got finished, huh?" he asked curiously.

"Oh, sure, here, I'll show you what they did up there. They could have used the space down here in exactly the same way, and I just don't see why they didn't."

Kabuto shrugged and led him up to the main floor then up to the upper level. As they came off the stair, to the right was a long thin bathroom, and to the left was an open bedroom. There was what looked like a sliding panel that could close off the bedroom, but Kabuto didn't have it shut at the moment. Iruka nodded.

"They could have done that in the basement easily, just reversed so the stairs down faced the front instead of the back," he commented.

Iruka hadn't thought he'd find anything here, but now he was sure. There were no smells. There were no bulging black bags that a body could have been in. There was, however, a large tatami mat on the floor that looked new.

"I like the weave in the mat you have up here," Iruka said conversationally.

"Oh yeah, do you like it? Oh gosh." Kabuto looked at Iruka suddenly. "I'm afraid this whole mess is my fault!"

Iruka looked at him. "Huh?"

Kabuto shook his head. "I was at a swap meet on Thursday evening, that big one that they put up down at the University, and I ended up trading some of my old textbooks for that mat since it was so new. I would bet that your anonymous tip was from Kimimaro next door. Poor thing! I bet he saw me dragging this thing in! I'd had a bit too much to drink while I was there and passed out for a bit in the common room, so I imagine he saw me dragging this big bulky thing down the sidewalk by myself! It had to have been three am by the time I got home that night. I regretted it Friday, I assure you!" he said and made a sour looking face.

Iruka smirked. "I bet that's it. Kimimaro tends to get a little overprotective of things in the neighborhood."

"Well, no wonder, the poor man won't live past the age of forty, if he even makes it that far," Kabuto said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Really? I just thought he was wheelchair bound?" Iruka asked.

"Oh no, the poor man has FOP. Short version is that his soft tissues in his body start turning to bone, and eventually, he'll become trapped inside his own skeleton. He's housebound because any injury triggers the response to grow more bone and speeds up the diseases' progress," Kabuto said sadly as he sat down on the end of his bed.

Iruka nodded, seeing that Kabuto had one of those platform style beds with a thin mattress on it. The platform kept it about two feet off the floor, and there were drawers underneath it. He shook his head and reached down, pulling open one of the drawers on the side he sat. He pulled out a packet of tissues and dabbed his eyes.

"Apologies, allergies have been acting up lately," he said and stood up to walk Iruka back downstairs.

Iruka nodded, heading down behind him, but something struck him as out of place. It wasn't something obvious, and it was somewhat not even conscious, it was just there…at the edge of his notice. He shook his head and continued, chatting further with the medical student about his studies. Iruka told him farewell and walked back over to let Kimimaro know that all he'd found was a large tatami mat bought at a swap meet.

Kabuto watched him go, a placid smile on his lips. There was not a worry in his mind even with a police officer in his small place. He'd made arrangements over the couple nights. He didn't sleep much as it was, but converting the space under the platform bed had been easy enough. The drawers all pulled out on both sides still, of course. If someone was really curious though they'd notice that five of the six only pulled out a couple inches and were stuffed with what looked like linens.

Kabuto headed back up the stairs and hummed to himself as he stopped in the bathroom, washing his hands thoroughly. He couldn't take chances with his new toy Kogitsune. He hummed to himself and picked up a suture kit that he had sitting under his bathroom sink. He picked checked it over and pre threaded the needles quickly. It wouldn't take long, this part, of course. Now, the second half of his alterations would take a bit more healing time.

He opened the small box that he'd received in shipment today at the post office box. They looked so real, he thought as he picked up the two triangles of orange, white, and black. He'd always been slightly fascinated by nature since he was a child, this in particular.

Now he ran his fingers over the realistic feeling prosthetics he'd ordered. At the base of the fleshy feeling ears was a flat piece that was meant to be used to adhere to a skullcap or a person's scalp for a costume. The thin, flexible material had been insufficient for his purposes, of course, so he had altered it by inserting a bar of surgical steel and attaching it. A slight incision in the scalp to peel away the flesh, then stitch the skin together around the metal bar and to the prosthetic… He smiled. He glanced at the other box. That would have to wait for tomorrow, though. He had yet to decide the exact method to attach that piece. He had considered connecting directly to the tailbone, but he didn't want his toy to die from meningitis or something if he introduced a foreign bacteria into the epidural space.

He took the suture kit and the prosthetic ears into the bedroom and sat them both on the bedside table. He turned and slid open the closet door. He would need to keep his head still…but he couldn't remember if he had a halo here or not…oh he did have one. He took a stepladder and opened it in the closet and pulled down a metallic halo often used in brain surgeries. He wouldn't drill into his skull, well, maybe later, but this would keep his head still long enough to do this simple surgery.

He sat it by the chair and went back to the bed. He knelt and pulled one of the drawers that didn't come out very far. He yanked twice in quick succession and the drawer slid the rest of the way out. About two inches deep, the drawer had a false back, and inside the rest of the drawer were medical restraints. He grabbed a few and attached them to some rings that were installed on the sides. He went over and pulled out a plastic drop cloth and a set of sponges. The bleeding would be minimal if he was careful.

"Ah, my little toy, time to have some fun," Kabuto said as he pulled up the mattress on the bed.

The alterations had been incredibly simple. He had made the drawers smaller, leaving a three foot by six foot space in the middle of the bed. He'd placed a steel locking top where he'd removed the platform piece and then slid down two stainless steel sides to keep it separate from the drawers. There was another steel panel at the foot. One of the false backed drawers had a hole in the back of it through which a tube ran into it. He noted that the foley bag was nearly half full. He traced his eyes down the line of the tube where it ran into his pretty little fox.

"See, now wasn't that easier than having to hold yourself from urinating all day while I was gone?" he asked with a smile.

Ah, such a pretty little toy fox, Kabuto thought as his frightened blue eyes settled onto his face. That look made his heart leap. That look… The primal instinct that the animal is trapped with no escape. Yes, that was what he liked to see reflected in those lovely eyes of his. Trapped and helpless. He knew well enough that he heard everything said outside the confines here. However, he could make no sound in his prison. Kabuto liked the look of strait jackets, and they were so effective. He'd used one and wrapped his arms up around him, but left him otherwise nude. It was quite delightful playing a bit that morning with the catheter and sounds before he left him. He'd used a different gag, though, one that would muffle him better. He'd thought about using some of the metal gags, but they weren't good for long time use. Plus, he could still make sounds with them on. So he'd gone for the regular sex toy rout and used a gag that had a rubber piece that stuck inside the mouth. The length was just enough to lightly gag him, but not enough to make him vomit. Of course, it was large so it pressed down completely on his tongue and left his jaw open wide. Making sounds like that was more than difficult.

"I hope you rested while I was gone. We have a long weekend planned for us, my little fox kit. I'm just going to eat you up…" Kabuto muttered as he leaned over and spun the lock combination into the frame.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Naruto was shaking violently by the time the frame closed again over him. The white jacket over his arms was liberally splattered with blood and his scalp was burning. He hadn't been able to see what he was doing, but he very obviously had cut open part of his scalp and sewed something into it. He hadn't bothered with any pain medications or numbing agents. The entire time, he'd left the gag in his mouth and had used that thing to keep his head from moving while he did whatever it was. He kept telling him that it wasn't a big deal, he was a doctor after all, and it would heal up quite nicely once it was all done. He shifted uncomfortably and whined a little because he wanted this thing out of his bladder. He wanted out of this horror altogether, that's all he wanted. As it was, he let the darkness enclose him and wondered how long he had been in this hell. It crashed into him hard as he realized it hadn't even been two whole days…

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

"Hey, Iruka, how's it going?" Kakashi asked as he saw the other officer wander by.

"Good, actually, you look beat, though…" Iruka said, stopping and standing in the doorway. "What's going on?"

Kakashi sighed. "Remember that kid that was being stalked for so long?"

"Yeah, you said that he'd laid off and that worried you…ah, he didn't get killed did he?" Iruka said with a grimace.

"No, but he was abducted Thursday night after his show at The Station. No one saw anything, no cameras caught anything, we're at a wall," he said and rubbed the eye he kept covered with the bandana. He glanced over and saw a call had been transferred to him. He sighed and picked it up.

"Inspector Hatake," he answered with a sigh.

"Inspector. My name is Itachi Uchiha," the cultured sounding voice on the other end answered.

"Uchiha-san. You must be the young man Sasuke Uchiha's brother," Kakashi said as he glanced up at Iruka.

"Yes, I am. I was calling on behalf of my little brother, with an offer to assist with the abduction of his friend, the Uzamaki boy."

Kakashi blinked, mostly in disbelief. Firstly, Itachi Uchiha ran Sharingan Corporation, an optical technology and security manufacturer. They specialized in cameras, surveillance, and more. In fact the Sharingan Corporation was responsible for a lot of the technology that was used in the police department. So that was the least unbelievable part of him calling. The other part was that Itachi Uchiha was rumored to head a small group that was whispered about in the shadows of the crime world. Akatasuki was rumored to be a small branch of Yakuza operations that specialized in white collar crime and extortion. However, the fact that Itachi Uchiha was completely impervious to their attempts to investigate him, the organized crime division had opted to let them be until something more came up.

"Oh, well, any help would be appreciated. We seem to have hit a standstill on the investigation," he said with a cautious look to Iruka.

"My brother left one of the cards with me to send through my lab. I did find some interesting abnormalities, but I am unsure if they will help in this case. However, I would like to meet with you and discuss it," Itachi said with a flat tone.

Kakashi nodded. "Of course, are you free tomorrow? I could come to Sharingan Tower."

"Ten am?" Itachi confirmed.

"Ten am."

The line cut off and Kakashi looked at Iruka. "Well, that is either very good, or very bad."

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

"And you're sure this is the stuff that four eyed idiot said might be used?" Sasuke said as he looked at the list the girls had given him.

"You know, if you don't like the answers I find, go find your own. What I looked up on the internet matches what he told us, so I don't see why it would be much different," Sakura said with an exasperated sigh.

Sasuke glared at both of them and back at the list. They were sitting in a local pho place near where Sasuke's house was. It was Saturday morning and they were nowhere closer to understanding what was happening. The clock was ticking, and Sasuke knew it.

"You realize that after forty eight hours, the chances he's alive…" Sasuke began.

"Don't say it," Ino said, chewing her lip for a second.

"Be realistic, stupid," Sasuke snapped. "We have to figure this out. The idiot police and my idiot brother have gotten nothing in two days. This has been going on for a year. There is no way that this person left no clues along the way. He had to have messed up somewhere along the way."

Ino looked up at the TV and gasped. "Oh dear…"

Sasuke turned around for a moment. He snapped his head to the counter. "Turn that up!"

The boy behind the counter started to argue but saw the look on the angry boy's face and nodded, picking up the remote and increasing the volume.

"…police request that if anyone has information on the whereabouts of local Tokyo University student Naruto Uzamaki, please contact them immediately. An inside source at the police station claims that the nineteen year old economics major, pictured here with the band he headlines called Shinobi Five, was abducted Thursday evening. Details are being kept close to the vest, but the police believe that the student is not a runaway. Sources state that Uzamaki has been the victim of a stalker for several months prior to this."

The female reporter's face panned out and a male news anchor was sitting at a desk. "Tragic, we do hope that someone out there has information on the young man. Such vibrant boy…"

"Turn it off," Sasuke snapped and without having to look, the boy behind the counter turned it off.

Ino had tears in her eyes, and Sakura was just staring at the blank TV. Sasuke growled under his breath and picked up the paper the girls had given him. "Crying isn't going to fucking find him, idiots," he said and stormed out of the place.

He was so angry he couldn't stand it, to be honest. Seeing Itachi the day before should have done something, but it hadn't. All he'd gotten was that his brother was meeting with the Inspector this morning. He shoved his hands into his pants and headed toward his house. He couldn't believe that after everything, he didn't protect him. No one did. He was still taken away, and that…

Sasuke stopped and stared at the door of his house. There was a card and an instant photo taped to it. He reached up and pulled them both off. The card was facing up, the instant photo down. The card read, "My Little Fox" and Sasuke flipped the instant photo over and stared. For a moment he didn't really understand what he was looking at. Then he realized with dawning horror that it was Naruto's head, well, a photo of the top of his head, where it looked like someone had sewn a pair of fox ears into his scalp. The skin was sutured over some sort of anchors and it was obviously freshly done, still beading blood.


	4. Beginning Transformations

A/N: Okay, fair warning that this chapter is pretty intense. There are several medical procedures, and it will probably be one of the more graphic ones in this story. There will be another couple surgical scenes, but the future chapters, during the "healing" phases between Naruto's procedures by Kabuto, will feature heavily the team trying desperately to rescue him.

There will also be a lot of edits coming, as I think there will additional scenes added to previous chapters (like Kakashi and Itachi meeting the first time).

Chapter Four

Beginning Transformations

-Nearly One Year Ago-

"Kabuto, dear, why aren't you eating tonight?" Nonō asked with a frown as she glanced at him.

He glanced at his adopted mother and shook his head. "I don't know, just feeling headachy today, you know," he said as he took off his glasses to rub his nose. "Probably just coming down with a flu or something, school just got going at the university and all, so I wouldn't be surprised."

She smiled and nodded to him. "What are you teaching this year?" she asked as she stood up to clear the plates.

"Anatomy and Physiology," he answered, standing up and watching the world tip and spin before fading out.

When he blinked next, he was staring at a white ceiling. "Kabuto?" Nonō asked him.

"Oh…um, what happened?" he asked as he realized he was in a hospital room.

Nonō smiled at him where she sat beside the bed. "Kabuto-kun, you had a seizure. We thought you weren't going to come out of it!" she said.

Kabuto nodded. "I…I have lost time a few times recently," he said thoughtfully.

"They're setting up all the tests, but they want you to stay overnight. Tomorrow's Saturday so no school, so they'll figure this out, okay?" she said gently.

Kabuto nodded, rubbing his head again in the same spot. Nonō was worried, though. The spot was where he'd had the severe concussion as a child. Even then, there had been worry over the brain injury he had. She had told Kabuto when he woke up there that he had been with them a week, mostly because he couldn't bear to tell him the truth. He'd been in a coma for almost five months before he finally woke up. The "wound" on his head that he had for the weeks after awakening was from draining the pressure on his brain right before he returned to consciousness. They had simply used the same wound they had when they found him to go back in to drain the fluid again.

"We'll figure it out," she said again, but it was mostly to reassure herself.

A month passed, and Kabuto, despite having every test in the book run on him, had no idea what had caused the seizure and continued gaps in his memory. They assumed he was having mild catatonic seizure activity, so they prescribed Dilantin for him. He didn't like the effects so he figured that there wasn't a big deal about having a few seizures. So he simply put it away for later use if he changed his mind. He opted to keep filling it, and telling the doctor he was taking it. Like a good patient. He didn't want to disappoint Nonō by not following the doctor's advice.

He went about his normal schedule, and he was happy. He'd even met another med student that he thought he might ask out during grad student orientation. Kabuto was shy, and very insecure, though, and he had an extreme fear of asking out someone that wasn't into guys as well. He was so nice and seemed to hang around with guys, but he wasn't sure. He had been on the way back home one afternoon when he saw a lovely fox triptych in a shop window. He stopped and stared at it for a long time. Next he realized he was at home, on the futon and staring at the previously blank wall where the three paintings now hung. He blinked. That was the first time he'd lost time and seemed to have done something during the gap in his memory…

The first day of classes was the next day, and he needed to find out what was happening. He spent most the night researching things that would cause something like that. He kept getting answers that didn't make sense, and he didn't know what to make of it. Seizure activity. Gaps in memory. Doing things and having no memory of doing them. It pointed to something psychological. He turned twenty five this year, so he was in the prime range to develop severe mental health problems. He glanced at the computer and quickly composed an email to his advisor requesting to change his specialty from orthopedics to psychiatry this year. He winced at that, though, because he already had bought a lot of his own equipment over the last year. He was obsessive over his things, so he hated other people using them. That halo alone had cost almost six months' worth of his stipend….

The strangest event thought was when at the end of his first class he ran into a student. He didn't remember the student, actually, he just remembered standing outside by the fountain and staring into the woods next to it. He tilted his head to the side and then turned around, seeing that the sun had moved. He glanced at his watch. Two hours had passed this time. He shook his head and went back inside. That week, no one said anything to him about doing anything odd. He didn't lose any more time, for which he was grateful. Then, he was walking through the commons and saw a bunch of the advertisements for the local bands that were playing in the area. He smiled because he recognized two of the girls in his class. He vaguely remembered that they mentioned a band now and then. But his gaze shifted to the boy in the front shown mid leap. The world seemed to waver and all he saw was orange and black and bright blue eyes.

This time when he came back to himself he was home, lying on the futon in the living room. He was wearing the oddest clothes he'd ever had on in his life. Skinny jeans and a black t-shirt that was two sizes too tight. He also realized his hair was in a bun. That was really odd. He got up and showered, noting that there was makeup on his face. He shook it away and then went back to his daily life. However, the strange wardrobe continued to appear on the weekends. He had no idea where the clothes came from, nor where they went the next morning after he showered.

Kabuto wasn't unaware of how much of a problem this was, of course. He kept researching, running tests on himself, and trying to set up ways to see if he could catch himself doing anything. He finally decided it seemed to be limited to randomly going out in party clothes on the weekend. He sighed, guessing it was some sort of psychosis episode. He got his hands on some meds and tried a few different atypical antipsychotics, but he didn't really notice a lot of different other than the miserable side effects.

The lamp was the next thing that appeared in his place that he didn't remember buying. He pushed it away though. It was just a lamp with a snake on it. What does it matter, he thought to himself? If he was just buying random things and going out parties on the weekend, it wasn't such a bad thing, though.

What Kabuto's mind seemed to miss completely, or else he simply ignored it, was the general messiness of his place. He didn't pick up much, and he was constantly ordering out. Take out containers were stacking up by the end of around five months. Then, one morning, Kabuto woke up and the place had been completely cleaned and he saw that Nonō was sitting on the futon.

"Oh! Good morning, Kabuto-kun! Thank you for letting me stay while they fix the water," she said and got up to hug him. He hugged her back and then glanced at his phone. He'd lost nearly a week.

Kabuto smiled, but he didn't remember the last few days at all, and he didn't remember Nonō asking to come stay with him. She ended up staying almost two weeks while her house was replumbed. To Kabuto's surprise, he made it through the time without losing any time at all. It was a pleasant change, and he thought for a while that perhaps whatever had been going on had stopped. He knew that psychosis could come and go like that. He didn't seem to be developing full schizophrenia, so it was puzzling. He had some symptoms, but not enough. After Nonō had left, he fell asleep at the table.

The next two months became a blank. When he came back to himself, he saw drawings spread out on the kitchen table. He recognized…oh…now he understood. Now he knew… He was the snake. He was the predator. And he had prey. Beautiful, lovely, and so very frightened prey…

 _Kogitsune._

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

"Kabuto, you've been in a lot recently! How much stuff are you ordering these days?" the postal worker said as Kabuto pulled a larger pair of boxes out of his delivery box. Kabuto glanced at the older woman. He smiled. Honestly, after the fun this morning he had been ecstatic that these had come before the postal closed Saturday afternoon. He knew that he was going to have something special in them when he realized there was two instead of one.

"Gifts," he said with a smile. "Large family overseas, you know. Have to order early!" he said as he headed out to the waiting cab.

He was practically thrumming with anticipation. He honestly had no memory of ordering what was in one of these. Of course, he had that happen more often these days when he lost chunks of time. The other night, he'd put together that cage under the bed. The difference was, now instead of a blank spaces in his memory, there were blurry spots that he could remember. He still didn't recall the previous blank times, but now it was almost like he was watching from inside his own head as he did things. A strange sensation, as though he was riding along as someone else controlled him.

He paid the cab fare and got out of the car, humming under his breath. He didn't notice the neighbor's curtain move as he headed into the unit with the two boxes. He headed straight upstairs. He couldn't wait to see what he had in this box. The other box, he knew what that was, that was the order for the paws and other accessories like the shock collar and the latex suits. He'd have to augment the gloves to attach permanently, of course, thought he wasn't sure how he was going to do it. He supposed he had the same problem with the tail…

He sat both boxes on the bed, and of course, heard nothing. His pet fox was tied up nicely in the strait jacket still, and he was gagged. Today, though, he was going to have to deal with the problem he had not anticipated. Kogitsune refused to eat. That would not due, of course. He ripped open the top box with the paws and a few other things that he'd ordered from that site. Then he opened the heavier box. He looked into it for a long moment and then picked up something he didn't expect. A medical drill? He saw there were some metal predrilled plates, some titanium screws and pins and then he realized what they must be for... There was also a bone saw. Why would he need that, he wondered?

"The ears aren't attached right now," he muttered to himself, in a voice that wasn't quite his own. "They aren't attached to the skull. They need to be bolted to the bone…"

A slow smile spread over his face. Yes…yes…now as far as the tail procedure, he thought as he contemplated how to bolt the piece into Kogitsune's skeleton. It wouldn't do for it to fall off at the wrong time, how would it? He smiled suddenly. He could use one of the plates to make an attachment to his tailbone. At first, he thought it would be too dangerous, but now that he considered it, it made sense because hated to make it a surface attachment. He could easily see now as he pulled the mattress off the cage and looked down that surface attachments weren't sturdy enough. The ears had already shifted out of place and there was blood pooling under his head. He sighed and went to get towels.

"Now, so sorry, Kogitsune, seems I erred a bit with this. I've thought better, now. So let's take you down to the kitchen where I have nice light. I'll have to drill into your skull a bit for this, and then attach these, so I'll have to sterilize everything," he said with a smile as he leaned down and pulled Naruto's body up by the front of the strait jacket.

Honestly, Naruto wasn't really even conscious. He had passed out at some point, and then it was like floating between waking and sleeping. He nearly came awake when he felt Kabuto roughly yank the catheter out of him. Even then, though, he was so very tired. He vaguely registered that he was being carried down the stairs and then he was sitting upright. He heard rattling and clinking and then jerked as something pierced his arm. He realized it was an IV.

"There, now, you're a bit dehydrated, Kogitsune," Kabuto said as he adjusted the saline bag and secured the straps around his chest and legs. "I forgot the halo, goodness, that won't due," he said and left the room.

Naruto's eyes fluttered and he looked across at the door and he could see shadows moving past the covered glass. Just a little ways away, there were people…people that if he could get their attention could help him… He whined in his throat when Kabuto came down and sat the headgear on his shoulders and tightened it down.

Kabuto hummed as he washed his hands and sterilized the equipment he was using for this. He checked the battery on the drill, but he wouldn't need it for more than just putting the screws into his skull. The previous incisions would mark it well. He snipped the sutures from earlier. Naruto didn't react to the sting when whatever he'd put into his scalp came free of it. He thought maybe that was it but then he heard the buzzing. He couldn't move at all as he felt pressure on his head. Then he flinched as Kabuto flushed liquid over his scalp where it had been cut and then he was doing something else. He stopped and walked around in front of Naruto and sat a silver tray down with two triangular objects. He pulled a strip of metal off the bottoms of each one and replaced it with one that had holes in it. It was then Naruto realized what he was doing to his head. Ears. He was putting ears on his head. Fox ears.

Naruto struggled against the bindings, but due to his dehydration and lack of food, as well as blood loss, it was pointless. He felt the pressure as something was placed into his skull. It was strange, feeling the torque of what must have been a screw going into his skull. How was this ever going to be fixed? How could this ever go back to normal? He wasn't sure it could…

He felt him suturing the skin again, and Naruto realized he was still humming. He just was standing there as blood dripped down Naruto's shoulders and onto the white floor tiles, humming a tune. Finally he felt him use what he guessed was saline to clean off his head and then put bandages around the attachments this time.

Kabuto came around and smiled at him. "Much better. Those won't shift and cause you pain and bleeding again. I'll wait a few days, then I'll give you the pretty tail I got for you. First, though, you're all messy, so a clean up is in order!" he said as he easily lifted him up and grabbed the IV bag from the stand. "Then, my pretty little fox, since you won't eat for me, I'll have to make sure you get your nutrition! But I'll do that before I put you away for the night. For now, some shower time," he said as he sat Naruto down on the floor of the upstairs one.

He knelt and undid the strait jacket. Despite attempts to ignore it, Naruto couldn't help but try to push him away once his hands were free. Kabuto, though, just laughed a bit as he grabbed soap and the showerhead and started washing him. He pushed him against the wall and smiled.

"My Kogitsune, you haven't used the toilet to empty your bowel since you arrived, you shouldn't hold yourself like that, my sweet fox," Kabuto said as he stood up and moved away. "It is a dirty thing to do," he said as he crouched down and pulled out something from under the sink. "So we'll have to cleanse you," he said as he returned into the shower with a bag attached to a tube.

Naruto shook his head and tried to push away from him as he forced his legs open wider. He slipped the narrow tube into him and unclipped the bag. Naruto had never in his entire life experienced this and he didn't like it one bit as his stomach began to feel very strange and very full. He whined and shook his head repeatedly. Kabuto seemed to enjoy watching his face closely as he let the liquid flow into his little fox. He looked up to see it was empty and smiled, pulling the nozzle out of him. He saw him clench to stop himself from voiding right then.

"Aw, poor baby fox. Come, I'll let you sit on the toilet, would that make you feel better?" Kabuto asked as he lifted him up. He moved him to the toilet and it wasn't a matter of holding himself any longer. Still the complete mortification and shame that he had just done this in front of someone…

"You are so lovely when you blush," Kabuto said, fingers tracing the scars again. "My Kogitsune. My sweet Kogitsune…" he whispered as he forced Naruto's head back, the gag making his throat bulge a bit when he did it. "Ah, I have to take you now, so very pretty," he muttered as he pushed his legs upward and pulled himself free from his tightening trousers. Naruto tried to use his hands but Kabuto grasped his right ankle and he stilled as he positioned himself. He looked at Naruto for a second then slammed forward into him. Naruto tried to look away from him but he kept pulling him to face him again and again.

Another wash, and he was being dropped onto the top of the mattress this time. He was panting and everything hurt. His head especially was eclipsing the pain in his ass. Not by much, but it was doing it. He jerked as he sat down and took his hand and slipped something over it. Naruto blinked, his vision blurring for a moment before he realized it was some sort of mitt. It was made of some sort of beige colored latex. His hand was forced into a glove inside it that slipped around each of his fingers tightly. He pulled another onto his other hand. Kabuto was humming to himself as he reached over and picked up a bottle of clear, thick liquid. He pulled open the side of the mitt and poured it into the glove. It was slightly warm and then began to burn. Naruto started to scream against the gag in his mouth.

"Just give it a second, it forms a Permabond with the skin. I'm hoping that it will act like a skin graft, eventually forming an outer layer of natural skin around this latex framework I'm adhering to your hands. Give it a week or so and it should grow into this. The skeletal structure won't change, unfortunately. I can't make the claws be real, but this is as close as I can come. I've got some fur pierces I'll attach afterward so you can be my little fox," he said as he moved to pour the bonding compound in the other glove.

He let go and nodded as Naruto writhed against the pain searing through his hands. He seemed to pass out after a while. When he woke this time, he was pulled up against the head of Kabuto's bed. His arms were secured above his head. His hands had stopped burning so much, but it was settling into a throbbing that wouldn't stop. He reached around behind Naruto's head and unclasped the gag, though, and that was an incredible relief.

"Please," he rasped, his throat on fire it felt like. "Please, stop this…please…"

Kabuto smiled and cupped his little fox's face. "I own you, remember, Kogitsune? I have to make you perfect, but I'm debating on your hind legs, my Kogitsune. I cannot decide if amputating them at knee and attaching a prosthetic would be the best way to achieve your state as close to perfection as possible…"

Naruto shook his head violently. "No, you can't…you can't just cut my legs off…please…no, you can't do that!" he gasped.

"Oh, my love, you will be fine, I have all the tools I need, and I'll take care of you," Kabuto said as he looked at him.

Naruto honestly couldn't feel his legs much below the knee anyway. Kabuto ran his hands down his legs and looked at his ankles. He smiled and scooted forward to sit beside Naruto's hips. He rested his hands on his thighs and looked up into his glittering eyes.

"I suppose it may have to be done anyway, I wasn't very careful when I broke them…there may be an infection in the bone."

Naruto let out a sob. "Please, please, just let me go…please…"

"Oh, my little fox," Kabuto said with a grin as he leaned forward and started to kiss him on the lips. For a moment, Naruto didn't respond to him but when he slipped his tongue into his mouth, he couldn't stop the reaction. He bit down and Kabuto yelped, pulling back and glaring at Naruto with blood dripping down his chin.

Naruto realized too late that he had done something very, very stupid. Kabuto stared at him and it was almost like a complete other person took over the man in front of him. The first hit to his face was harder than he expected. He wasn't sure what he expected, but the world faded again. He blinked and looked up to see he had disappeared from sight. He was glad, but then he came back and smiled in a horrible way. He had a silver pan in one hand and a pair of…pliers. He had pliers. He tried to scream but he slammed his head into the head of the bed and wrenched his jaw open. If he had been able to scream, he might have.

Kabuto came back to himself in the bathroom, blinking in the mirror. His face and body was splattered with blood and his hands were dripping. He smelled blood. What did he do? His heart was beating in his ears as he looked behind him at his bed. He hoped he hadn't killed his Kogitsune…

Luckily, when he went back into the room to see he was still breathing. He didn't seem to be very injured either, so where did all this blood come from? Kogitsune's body was covered in blood coming from his…mouth. He looked to the bedside table where there was a silver bedpan sitting. Kogitsune was sitting with his head hanging down, but blood dripped down to his lap. Kabuto stepped forward and tipped the silver bedpan and realized what he'd done. He'd pulled all his teeth out. There was a pair of pliers beside the pan. The last thing he remembered was kissing his sweet little fox.

"Oh, Kogitsune," he said quietly and lifted his head up. "I'm sorry, but you shouldn't have done that," he said with a sigh.

Naruto's eyes fluttered and he stared at him. The thought of talking didn't cross his mind. Kabuto sighed. "I'll have to do this for sure now. I can't put you under the bed Monday without making sure you get nutrition and hydration. So I'll have to set this up for while I'm gone Monday. It might hurt a bit," he said as he went to get the equipment he needed. Naruto passed out again almost immediately.

A few minutes later Naruto woke to feel him tilting his head back and forcing a tube into his nose. He struggled weakly for a few minutes and then gagged as he felt it pass down his throat into his stomach. Kabuto secured the tube against his cheek with tape and then nodded. He lifted him up then, carrying him into the bathroom and using the shower to spray off the blood from him. He saw him shiver though and Kabuto realized that he was going to go into shock if he wasn't careful.

He sighed, wrapping him in a yukata that would fit over the mitts he'd put on his hands. He put him back onto the bed and pulled a metal stand over to the bed. He mounted the IV bags, one of saline and electrolytes and one of antibiotics and another for the feeding tube. He glanced back to the shivering form. He wondered what would have made him want to hurt his Kogitsune so much. He'd told himself one procedure at a time, and he'd gone and done two surgeries, the paw application and removed his teeth in one day. He was too impatient to see his Kogitsune as he should be. He'd intended to remove his teeth, of course. He couldn't have him bite, but he was going to do it next weekend so he could heal from the head procedure.

He put the IV into his arm, struggling to find a vein, though. He was too dehydrated, he thought to himself. He put him on the side of the bed closest to the IV stand and then saw that he was waking up. His mouth was swollen and he looked so frightened.

"Kogitsune, you'll sleep up here tonight, okay?" he said as gently as he could as he sat down beside him. He reached between his legs and Naruto jerked away. "Please, I need to put this back in, so you don't have an accident, that wouldn't do," he said as he stroked the inside of his thighs gently before reaching to take him in hand again.

Kabuto slid the catheter into his urethra, threading it upward easily. It was well lubed, and he'd chosen a relatively small one with a balloon. He stopped when it was far enough and grabbed the saline to inflate the small balloon at the top. Ten cc of saline, he thought to himself as he rubbed his fox's belly. He was still so scared, though. He imagined it must be terrible to the poor thing. He couldn't understand all this stuff, he thought to himself. Poor, sweet, innocent thing. He looked at his swollen mouth. He couldn't leave him ungagged. He sighed and wrapped a leather muzzle looking device over his mouth. Granted, he didn't think he would be trying to talk, though. He sighed, running fingers through his hair. He wasn't going to do anything until next weekend, he swore. No more procedures.

Kabuto slid into the bed behind him, rolling him to face him. He ran his hands over his head and threaded fingers through his hair. His Kogitsune was sleeping now, and he snuggled into him. He wrapped his arms around Kogitsune's body and fell asleep. It was perhaps the best sleep that Kabuto had in a long time. Tomorrow, he dreamed about sitting with his Kogitsune for the whole Sunday.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Sunday morning was more frustrating than anything else. Sasuke was pacing his way back and forth across his brother's apartment. Inspector Kakashi Hatake was sitting next to someone that Sasuke didn't know. He thought he was security for the building or something. Zabuzu, he thought was his name.

"What is this meeting for anyway?" Zabuzu asked with a sigh. "I'm supposed to visit my son today for dinner."

"This won't take long," Itachi said as he came out of the other room. "This is off the book, Inspector. I'm sure you know why," he said as he turned around and looked at him and Zabuzu.

"Tell me what the fuck is going on, Itachi. You've had days already to find him," Sasuke said as he turned and glared at his brother.

Kakashi arched a brow from where he sat reclined on the futon. It seemed the younger Uchiha was like this with everyone. Itachi sighed deeply and shook his head at his brother. "I have done what I can, but I needed to meet privately with Hatake. We met yesterday officially. Today is about my other contacts," he said with a sigh.

Kakashi nodded. "You refer to your position as Akatsuki head," he said casually.

"You know about that?" Sasuke said with a glare at the Inspector.

Kakashi smirked under the health mask he was wearing. "Of course, Uchiha-kun. I've known about that forever. We have a grudging peace with the Yakuza lately, and as long as Itachi's men are not involved in illegal enterprises, there's no reason to do anything. Your brother does legal enterprises…for the most part."

"Of course," Itachi said with a nod. "In this case my information network is advantageous. Like this," he said and handed a folder to Kakashi.

Kakashi thumbed through it. "What is this?" he said with a frown.

"When Sasuke told me about the photograph the perpertrator left for him, the fox ears, I had one of my men pull up places to acquire those type of thing. That's a list of all the online places that cater to these 'furries' that would buy something like this. There are many, many products," Itachi said with a glance at his brother. "Brother, give me what you found today?"

Sasuke handed him what had been on his door today. It was a manilla envelope with sketches inside it. Kakashi took it from Itachi and looked it over. "What is this…plans?" he asked.

"As near as we can tell, someone drew this as some sort of plans to turn someone into a fox/human hybrid."

Kakashi nodded. The sketches started with a figure that looked vaguely like Naruto with notes about to how to alter him to be more like a fox. Notes on it were chilling, though. _Bolts may be necessary to secure the ear pieces to the skull. Possible connection to the tailbone is possible due to sacrum being the final location of spinal cord. Amputation of calves would be necessary to imitate four-legged locomotion. Possible break and insertion of joint in the center of the thigh could mimic hind legs of animal._ Along with the notes were sketches on a generic looking figure.

"Is this what they're doing? Trying to do?" Zabuzu asked as he looked over at it.

Kakashi shook his head. "If it is, there's no telling what he's already done…I need to take this to the team. Please, Itachi, call if you find anything else. I fear that we need to find this boy faster…"

Kakashi left and headed out to the station. On the way he called and had Lee and the others meet them there. Unsurprisingly, he found Sasuke beat him there. He sighed, and noted that this time the two girls had come up too.

"You know, hanging out areound the station isn't going to find your friend any faster," he said as he walked up to them.

"These two idiots were here, they called me to meet them. Sakura, you said you had something to do with the case," Sasuke said and glared at the two girls. "But she wouldn't tell me what it was."

"Well, come in," Kakashi said and took them to his office. "What have you got, Sakura?"

Sakura handed Kakashi a picture. "Th-this was on my door."

Kakashi looked at it and winced. "Whoever this is, they seem to be going through all the members of the band."

"Let me see that," Sasuke said and grabbed the photo.

He stared at it for a long moment and realized that it was hands, well, it was hands in some sort of mitts. They were crossed over each other, and the skin was rough where they went into the light colored flesh of the mitts.

Kakashi sighed. "Alright, you're each getting a permanent detail." He leaned over and pushed the intercom. "Guy, bring your team to my office," he said.

A few minutes later Guy knocked on the door and then brought in the three on his team. "Yes, Sir!" Guy said with a stiff-armed salute.

"Guy, I want you on detail with Miss Ino. Lee, you are to stay with Sakura. Tenten, I want you with Shikamaru, they'll give you his address. And Neji, you with Gaara. I want you to stay with them twenty-four seven. Whoever this is, it is obvious they are going to continue to use this to attack Naruto's friends," Kakashi said with a sigh as he crossed arms over his chest.


	5. The Predator and the Nurturer

Chapter Five

The Nurturer and the Predator

Kabuto woke warm and happy for the first time in a long time. He blinked and realized that he was with his Kogitsune. He sat up and realized that he had to check things before the day. It was Sunday he would have the whole day with him. He sat up and heard him making whimpering noises and he realized…he was in pain, he had to be in pain.

"Oh, Kogitsune, just a minute, I'm so sorry," he whispered as he slid out of the bed and went to the closet where he'd sat the small fridge. He came back and saw he was awake and watching him. Kogitsune's eyes were red and teary and no wonder, he thought. He changed the saline bag quickly with a new one and put a bag of Stadol with it, and added another bag of antibiotics. He sat down beside him and did the tube feeding for him and was wondering what the hell he had been thinking when he pulled his teeth out. That was so stupid. That was going to make recovery take even longer.

"There, I gave you a pain reliever, okay? Today, it is going to be you and me, sweet Kogitsune. And I'll treat you well, I'll baby you and take care of you, I promise," he said as he ran hands over his head. "I'll set your ankles once it takes effect, okay? I don't want to hurt you, I'm so sorry he hurt you…"

Kabuto got and started considering that he couldn't remember a lot since Thursday morning. He remembered answering the phone. That was the last thing he remembered clearly, then after that it was snatches of rage and other things he was horrified by. He walked down the stairs and stopped at the bottom of them to stare at the sofa.

"Nonō?" he asked, walking over to see his adopted mother sitting there staring at the fox tryptic.

She turned and smiled. "You let him do something terrible, Kabuto, my poor Kabuto. Why did you do that?"

He shook his head. "Nonō, I don't understand, what…how do you know about…"

"Your Kogitsune?" she said and stood slowly. She put a hand against his face gently. "I know, and I hope you make better choices. I healed you. I took care of you after that terrible man hurt you. I never told them what happened, how I found you on the side of the road, bleeding, with that man hurting you…baby, why would you do that to someone else?"

Kabuto's world tilted and he remembered vividly something he had long forgotten.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

The heart pounding in his ears nearly eclipsed the sound of someone chasing him. He was sobbing, and running, and he didn't know what to do.

"You little fucking brat…I'll kill you for this!" he heard behind him.

He had never been so very scared in his entire life. He'd been in his bed asleep when the bad man broke into their house. Papa had said to hide and he did, even when he heard the gun and heard papa fall. Even when mama screamed, he stayed hidden. But then, the bad man found him and he had run through the woods around their house. He caught him, trying to strangle him, and the little boy had kicked him in the between of his legs and ran again.

"I'll kill you for that!" he heard again but he fell, rolling down onto a road now. He panted but he was being strangled again, and he screamed, he didn't know what he was doing but he was hurting him and he couldn't get away. The bad man slammed the boy's head sideways and growled, "I'm the predator, you're the prey, Kogitsune…"

The world exploded behind the little boy's eyes but he saw a woman's face and then everything went so quiet, so very quiet, for so very long.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

"The Predator," he said and looked at Nonō. "The Predator, that's who…he broke into our house…he killed my parents, then he chased me into the woods…and he caught me…" he whispered.

"Yes, I didn't tell you for so long because I didn't want you to remember him hurting you like that, but I should have told you sooner."

 _The Predator has been apprehended today. He was caught assaulting a young boy after killing his parents. He has been sentenced to solitary confinement without bail to face multiple charges of child molestation and aggravated sexual assault, first degree murder, second degree manslaughter, unlawful imprisonment… We are happy to report that the nightmare surrounding the small rural town of Konohagura has ended. The Predator was executed today, convicted easily of his crimes. Seven families may now rest in peace knowing that that man that murdered them has been punished… The Predator left only one survivor, his last victim who has had his identity hidden to protect him… The Predator…The Predator…_

Kabuto looked at Nonō. "How could you not tell me? You knew! You knew!" he screamed at her. She smiled softly. "I hoped you never remembered. He's here, inside you, Kabuto. Fight him, for me."

There was a knock at the door and he looked over at it. He headed up and opened it, seeing that it was Haku from next door. The petite boy was very pretty, Kabuto thought. More than once he'd considered asking him out, but he hadn't been sure.

"Haku-san, what is it?" he said with a smile.

"Oh, I brought you this, Kimimaro saw in the paper that your mother, well your adopted mother, passed Thursday morning. He was worried, he said he heard something last night…" Haku said looking around furtively in the place behind him.

Haku handed him a box of cookies that he and Kimimaro had made. Haku felt really awkward now after Kimimaro had called the cops on him now. No wonder he had come in so late Thursday night.

"Oh, why thanks," he said with a soft smile. "She was a wonderful person. She saved me, you know. More than once. I guess it hit me last night, you don't want to come in because the place is a mess. I think I broke a few things cursing cruel fate."

"I understand," Haku said and bowed as he left to return to his place.

Kabuto looked at the box of cookies and then to the living room. No one was in there. He looked up the stairs. No, he had to take care of Kogitsune now. He'd let the Predator back into his life, and now he had to fix it. He would fix it, he would prove that he could take care of his Kogitsune, unlike the way the Predator treated him. No, he would take care of his little fox. He would love him with all his heart.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Kakashi looked at the officer. "Okay…bring him in."

Iruka came in leading a young man with short black hair and dark eyes. "I don't understand, what do you mean, I'm a suspect in what?"

"Sit down, son," Kakashi said as Iruka sat the boy down in front of Kakashi's desk. He stood back against the door and watched.

"Sai, right?" Kakashi asked with a smile.

"Yeah, S-Sai. I…the officer came and got me out of class, what is happening?" he asked nervously, looking between Kakashi and Iruka.

Kakashi arched a brow and looked at Iruka. Something told him that this boy was not involved. "One of your professors, a substitute, expressed concern after you left these in her class," he said and pushed a sketchbook toward him.

Sai knew it. It was his sketchbook. "It…it is mine, I didn't know where it had gone," he said and reached forward to take it.

"She felt like it might have something to do with the young man that is missing, Naruto Uzamaki, stating that she felt that your drawings were deviant," he said as he took the sketchbook and opened it to a page where Sai had drawn a relatively graphic piece of a pair of lions mating. "Now, your regular teacher, she informed us that she did not think that there was any concern. However, considering the imperative nature of finding the young man, I had Iruka bring you in. Just to talk."

Sai shook his head. "Okay, I…I…I draw things…that I am interested with… I like animals and I just…" he looked away as a red blush rose to his cheeks.

"And your advisor said you were raised in an extremely conservative household," Kakashi confirmed. "I think I understand. When I spoke with the woman on the phone she said that it was 'deviant' for a person with your disability to think about sex. It most certainly isn't," he said with a smile.

Sai blushed a bit harder and looked down at his hands. "I…well…it is very complicated," he said and looked between them.

"Actually, I didn't bring you only for that. I understand that you are quite the art student, and that you are very good at recognizing patterns in artwork, and given our lack of information, I would like to ask for your assistance. Your advisor let me know that you were quite gifted," Kakashi said as he pushed the stack of papers over toward Sai.

Sai frowned and started looking at them. Before Kakashi said anything, he began quickly sorting them into some sort of order. He put the stack down and looked up.

"This is the first one," he said and handed it to Kakashi. "The drawing is drawn with care. It is of foxes and nothing else." He pushed the next. "This one came next, the lines are beginning to be less careful, but you can see that the foxes are taking on human traits. That is when the notes begin, like this that says 'traits' and there are arrows to the human changes." He put down a couple more. "Here it seems that something is driving him, the drawing is hasty, sketchy, and he's making maps of human anatomy." Sai laid down the last few. "The degeneration here is almost like someone different drew them. The style is changed."

"So was this two different people?" Iruka asked, concerned that they were now looking for multiple people.

"No, same person, but something is happening to their mental state. There is a general decline, but this last one, something triggered this violence. The marks are heavy, nearly piercing the paper, and the words are harsher than before. I…I'm not a psychology type, but this is a dangerous person…" Sai said and looked at them.

"Yeah, we were afraid of that," Kakashi said with a sigh. "I'll have Iruka take you back."

Iruka led Sai out and Kakashi rubbed his forehead. He was nowhere closer to figuring this out than he was. The amount of people that ordered "furry" gear was incredibly high. Even if he just looked at those that ordered fox themed items, it was so very many. He sighed and rubbed his head again. He needed to find the boy. It was already almost noon on Monday. He'd been gone way too long already and chances were slowly increasing that he was already dead.

However, he jumped as someone slammed something onto his desk. Kakashi looked up to see it was Sasuke again. He looked down to see it was another instant picture.

"I found it this morning, on my door. Fucking security cameras caught nothing. I don't know how but he must have calculated the exact interval between sweeps to get to my door and out without being caught," he said.

Kakashi looked at it and realized that it was a picture of Naruto's face this time, so if there was any doubt of who they were, this took it away. Well, it was part of his face, mostly just his eyes, both wide and dilated completely and staring at the camera.

"He's alive, though, take that from this," Kakashi said and turned it over. Almost too light to read, it had the words "you have to help me save him" on it.

"What if…what if this person is trying to get us to catch him," Kakashi said as he turned over the photo and looked at the front.

Sasuke looked at him. "What do you mean?"

Kakashi looked at him. "Why the photos? Why any of this? Why leave those drawings? I'm beginning to think this is less a simple kidnapping and more a very disturbed person. They're calling for help though. Like they know they're going to go too far."

Sasuke glared at him. "I don't give a fuck if they want help. I want to know where the fuck they are and get the Dobe back from him before he fucking kills him."

Kakashi nodded. "I know," Kakashi said with a sigh. "Believe me, I know."

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

"I…I don't understand why you're calling me in. I have nothing to do with anything!" the man with the red hair snarled at Iruka who was pulling the man along by the arm into Kakashi's office.

"Sit down and shut up," Iruka growled. He looked at Kakashi. "Sasori here was not interested in coming in to speak with you, sir."

"I have no reason to be here! I haven't done nothing!" he commented and crossed his arms over his chest defiantly.

Kakashi rubbed his forehead. It was Wednesday already. Still no solid leads. He sighed. "Do you know someone by the name of Kankuro Sands?"

Sasori narrowed his eyes. "Yes."

Kakashi gave him a second. "Alright, can you tell me how you know Kankuro?"

"He's a poor excuse for a puppeteer, and we do much better than he does…" he grumbled.

"Puppeteer?" Iruka asked from the doorway.

"Kankuro makes and performs shows with Bunraku puppets. So does Sasori and his partner Deidara. They seem to have an ongoing rivalry that has escalated more than one to threats from this pair," Kakashi explained.

"Did something happen to that idiot? Is that why I'm here? I didn't do anything!" Sasori growled under his breath.

"Actually, I've been handed some information about your partner Deidara. Something about him attacking and killing someone Akihabara and threatening to mail out pipe bombs to people, including Kankuro…" Kakashi said with a narrowed glance.

Sasori blinked. "That wasn't his fault! That bastard deserved what he fucking got! And…and he didn't kill the guy! He just beat him unconscious, I checked before I took him to the residential facility. He was calling him a 'fairy faggot' and a 'tranny bitch'. Deidara just snapped and flew at him, but anyone would have if someone called them that!"

Kakashi nodded, noting it coincided with the information he'd gotten from the hospital. The guy had been a raging homophobic bastard who was higher than a kite on meth. "Okay, I understand that you haven't been updating your blogs with usual regularity. Is there a reason?" Kakashi asked again, thinking there was no way this boy or his boyfriend had anything to do with Naruto.

"Internet's sketchy, you can check, they've been down a lot lately," Sasori asked, starting to worry. "What happened? Did something happen to Kankuro? I mean, I wish he wasn't competition, but I don't want him hurt…I mean…"

"Do you know the name Naruto Uzamaki?" Kakashi said and pushed a photo across the desk toward Sasori.

He shook his head. "No…I mean, he looks familiar, but not very…"

Kakashi pushed a photo of Shinobi Five over. Sasori pointed at Gaara. "That's Kankuro's little brother, I know him. Now I know how I know the blonde, I've seen him with Gaara."

Iruka sighed, looking at Kakashi with a sad smile. They hadn't thought it was going to be anything. They'd already contacted Deidara through the residential facility he was in. Deidara had borderline personality disorder, among a few other mental health issues, and struggled with his anger now and then. They had also told Kakashi that when he came it, it was usually his partner Sasori that brought him because he was the only one that could really do anything with him when he got to a bad place. Kakashi had found the man that Deidara had assaulted had indeed been calling him various names due to his androgynous appearance and feminine dress.

"You don't think Deidara would have done anything without your knowledge?" Kakashi verified.

"Of course not. He wouldn't, he trusts me. I take care of him when he needs it. I mean, he's hurt a lot of other people when he gets in a rage, but never me, and I can bring him down. I mean, we've had a few scares where he's said he was going to hurt himself…but I take him in to the doctor so he can get the help he needs. I…please, has something happened to Kankuro or his brother?" he said, looking at Kakashi with genuine worry.

"This boy, Naruto, is missing. He was being stalked and disappeared Thursday evening. We've been checking into every lead we can. If you hear anything, let us know. We believe he's in great danger," Kakashi said with a sigh and motioned for Iruka to take him out.

Kakashi put his head in his hands after he was gone. No matter how he looked at it, things were going back. Almost a week. The chances of the boy being alive were growing slimmer and slimmer.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

The surreal life Naruto was stuck in was almost too much for him to bear. He'd started giving him pain medicine in the IV and the feeding tube. Kabuto had ended up pouring something into the mitts he'd put on him that made it feel like it wasn't tearing his skin off anymore. He had no idea what he'd done to his hands but he had a feeling it wasn't good for him. He was grateful, though, for the drugs he was giving him. He'd come home from wherever he went each day and pull him out of the cage under the bed. He'd then spend the evening acting like he was a housemate or something like that. He'd talk to him, tell him about his day at the school teaching, or about going shopping, but of course, he couldn't answer.

Then, as it got late, Kabuto would feed him through the tube, take him to the shower with him and change the dressings on his head and check his ankles. If he was lucky, all that would happen then was he'd be taken to bed and Kabuto would fall asleep clutching him. He was, of course, tied to the bed and gagged. If Naruto wasn't lucky, Kabuto would start cooing and kissing him as though he were some sort of lover.

There wasn't a night he didn't sob silently beside him.

Morning would come, and he'd be fed in the tube, given an IV and placed in the cage for the day. Luckily, the drugs made it pass quickly. His mouth was healing fast, thankfully, and the area on his head was at the itching stage as the scalp healed around the implanted metal.

Naruto hadn't seen the horrifying version of Kabuto since he pulled his teeth out. To be honest, he was sure he wouldn't survive then. It was as though he were a different person, even his voice had changed. It was simply terrifying and he never, ever wanted to see that again.

Naruto came to wakefulness with a start as the cage opened over him. He realized that Kabuto had put him in the cage last night for some reason. He looked up with teary eyes as Kabuto lifted him out of the cage and sat him in a wheelchair, patting his face and kissing him before he took the gag off him. With the healing mouth, he had been using a leather cover rather than something that went into his mouth. He was glad of that.

"Oh, good morning my sweet Kogitsune! We have an exciting day! Saturday, and today we're going to get your tail put in!"

Naruto shook his head. "No, please…you can't…you'll…" he slurred, his tongue still somewhat swollen, and unused to not having teeth in his mouth.

Kabuto slapped him, eyes turning hard. "Don't. I've told you what the schedule is. We will abide by it," he glared at him as he pushed him toward the bathroom where he saw that he'd set up a metal table. He was going to attach a tail to him how? Kabuto hummed as he positioned him on his stomach and clipped his ankles and wrists down. He set up an IV with something that made his head spin. "I've decided to be nice, so I'm giving you some morphine. I hope you aren't allergic."

At first, Naruto didn't know what he was doing, but didn't care. He felt nice. Then he jerked his body when he felt a sharp pain down his back. He gasped out as he realized what he was doing. He heard him starting to use the drill and then despite the morphine, he screamed against the gag.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

"I know I heard something," Kimimaro said with a sigh as he stared out the window.

"Kimi, he lost the woman he considered a mother last week, give the guy a break," Haku said as he sat down Kimimaro's tea. There was a knock and he went to answer it.

A few minutes later, Haku's adopted father, Zabuza came in and nodded to him. "Hey, Kimimaro, how are you? My boy been taking good care of you?" he said with a smile.

"Yeah," he said with a sigh.

"What's wrong?" Zabuza said as he came and sat down near Kimimaro's wheelchair.

"He's convinced our neighbor is doing something illegal," Haku provided as he came in with a cup of tea for Zabuza.

"I know something is going on!" he snapped.

"What is it?" Zabuza asked with a smirk. He knew the stories of Kimimaro's paranoid observations.

"Well, he saw him dragging a body bag that turned out to be a tatami mat when the police went to check…" Haku started.

"I don't buy that, still. It was not a rug or a mat," Kimimaro said and sipped his tea with annoyance.

Haku shook his head. "And then I found out that Kabuto's adopted mother had died and the strange sobbing noises Kimi was hearing and the odd bumps now and then were because of that."

"It wasn't Kabuto's voice!" Kimimaro insisted. "I know it wasn't…" he muttered as he looked away.

"Kimi, you're being silly. Iruka went all over that place, upstairs, down to the basement, and there was not a thing out of place," Haku said as he slumped into the seat beside Zabuza.

Zabuza though frowned. "Ah, seems there's strange events all around…" he muttered.

"What's up? Something with the building you run security for?" Haku asked.

"Itachi's wound up, something about his little brother. You know how those Uchihas are," Zabuza said with a shrug.

Haku nodded. "What happened? Did he get in trouble?" Haku asked. "I thought he was in that band these days, and had gone had gone all punk rocker goth attitude, with the piercings, tattoos, and undercut hair…" he said as he sipped his tea.

Zabuza nodded. "Yeah, Shinobi Five, but they haven't played in the last week. Guess their front man is missing or something," he said with a sigh.

Kimimaro's eyes cut toward him. "Front man? Since when?"

Zabuza shrugged. "A week or more. I don't know for sure."

"Don't be ridiculous Kimi!" Haku said with a sigh. "Kabuto doesn't even listen to music, so him having anything to do with a guy in a rock band disappearing is silly! The kid probably ran off with a groupie or something."

Kimimaro growled and looked away. Why didn't anyone believe him? Though now… He had someone who might listen to him. After Zabuza left, and Haku went to bed, he got on the computer and tried to find anything about this band. He quickly found that the lead singer of it had disappeared, coincidentally, on the same day as he saw Kabuto with his "mat". He couldn't call the police, they wouldn't listen and would just think he was making things up again. He sighed and looked at the dark-haired boy in the photo of the band. He was brooding looking, definitely the emo goth looking kid, but even so, he was looking at the blond from the corners of his eyes as he smiled brilliantly. Now, how to get to him?

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Naruto woke with his head still spinning, lying on his stomach and completely numb from the waist down. He turned his head and saw Kabuto. "I had to give you an epidural, you were moving too much and I don't have full anesthesia equipment," he said with a smile as he sat beside him. "But don't worry, I think I did it correctly."

Naruto didn't answer, just stared at him. He reached up and cupped his face. "I'm sorry about your mouth, I didn't intend for the Predator to get out, I will fix it somehow. But look, I fixed up your mitts for you," he said and Naruto saw that he'd made the mitts look like paws.

At least now, though, he could move his fingers a little inside it. He guessed he'd poured some sort of solvent into it to lessen the bond. He wasn't going to mention it to him, though. He might try to "fix" them to make them permanent again.

"Please," Naruto whispered, lisping more than a little as he spoke. "Please, just…just take me to the hospital, leave me there, I won't tell anyone…"

Again, his eyes changed. "I've told you. You belong to me. Mind, body, and soul. And obviously, you haven't realized this. You will, though," he said as he did something behind him and moved the thing beside him. He felt a jolt and realized he must have removed the anesthetic. "The tail surgery was a success, though. You see, I bolted a set of metal plates at the base of your tailbone. Then I attached a tail piece to them. The nice thing is that I can remove it if I want. However, of course, you won't be able to sit like you used to. That's the point, though. You're my fox now. So, you'll sit like one. My little Kogitsune," he said and leaned forward and kissed his cheek. "I've set your ankles, though. I've decide to wait and see how the wraps I get work before I amputate them. We'll try those tomorrow, and if it works, then I'll leave your human legs intact. But if you don't be a good fox, I'll take them off and make full modifications…"

Naruto nodded. Making every intention to do exactly what he said.

Kabuto waited until he fell asleep and stared at him. As if in a daze, he stood up and went to the bathroom and picked up the instant camera. It was almost as though he were in a fugue state as he snapped three photos of the Kogitsune, and wrote on the backs of the photos. He locked the door behind him and left, not noticing the curtain next door moving just a bit. He stood in front of the house. He watched the cameras again, and then pasted the photos to the door with a bit of tape, then returned to lie down by the Kogitsune.

As morning came, Sasuke found the three photos on the door, making a dash for the car he was using and storming into the police station again. He didn't even get questioned by the desk Sargent anymore. He slammed the new ones down on the desk.

"Sasuke, already, I know it's Monday but…" Kakashi said and picked up the photos. "Oh my."

Iruka came in, having heard that Sasuke had come in already. Kakashi looked up. "Summon Dr. Tsunade. Immediately. I need to know what this person has done to him."

Sasuke was waiting impatiently by the door to the conference room a couple hours later when a woman with large breasts and an annoyed expression came into the room with Iruka. "What is happening and why am I here?" she asked as she flopped into the chair at the end of the table and glared at Kakashi.

"Tsunade…I know you're busy, but here…I need you to tell me what you think of this," Kakashi said, pushing the file at her.

She opened it and looked at the photos, putting them out in the sequence they had been taken. "What the hell is this person doing to him?" she muttered and glanced at the sketches. "He's…he's trying to turn him into a fox…a fox? Who would do this…"

"He was stalked for a year. Then he was kidnapped Thursday before last after a show. Sasuke has been finding this stuck to his door ever since," Kakashi explained.

She shook her head. "He's bolted these to his skull," she said, noting the way the incisions were done. "And this," she said as she looked at one of the recent three. "He's used titanium plates and it looks like bolted them to his tailbone, they're barely emerging from the skin, my guess to attach a tail like he did the ears. Whoever did this is in medicine, but not a doctor. They're most likely either a med student that dropped out halfway through or a current med student. I'd guess in orthopedics or surgery…" she muttered. She looked up. "The missing supplies."

"Missing supplies?" Kakashi asked, frowning.

"Yeah, I just went to the dean because a case of narcotics disappeared last weekend, and there were some…metal plates…" she looked up at him. "This is the same person. Whoever is stealing supplies at the teaching hospital is the one that's got his kid. They must be. Look," she said and pointed to the photo of the boy's face, where there was a feeding tube taped to his cheek. "This isn't something you pick up locally. And to get the formula that is used…" She glanced at the last one, which was a shot of him lying on his stomach on a bed, hands tied above his head. "He's using a foley catheter, and an IV, look," she commented, seeing the tubes. "Whoever this is knows just enough to keep this kid alive."

Sasuke looked at her. "What does this mean?"

"I might have an idea how to catch them," she said and looked over the sketches. "He's going to need a few things if he's going to continue this transformation. Look, he's indicating he's going to make him four legged, see…" she pointed to the sketch where the legs were shortened. "He might try to amputate his legs below the knee. That would be the easiest way to do that…but he's going to need supplies…"

Sasuke looked at the one that showed most of his body. "What's wrong with his mouth?"

Tsunade picked it up. "Oh, gods…" she muttered. "He's pulled his teeth out. No wonder he put a feeding tube into him…" she said and looked up. She pulled out her phone.

"Yeah, Tsunade here. I need you to put some surveillance cameras on the storerooms in the teaching hospital. Hidden, we need to find out who's stealing them. Quickly. The case with the feeding tube supplies and the narcotics. Maybe the anesthesia supplies. What's missing? You can't be serious? Let me know if any other equipment is gone."

"What else is missing?" Kakashi asked with a frown.

"Equipment for an epidural," she said.

"I know this seems bad, but now we have the best lead so far," Kakashi said, looking at Sasuke.

Sasuke looked through the photos again. It wasn't enough. He needed to find him. He had to.


	6. Nosy Neighbors

Chapter Six

Nosy Neighbors

Sunday, early morning hours

"Akamaru!" Kiba shouted as he tramped around the lot behind the six plex that he lived. "Akamaru! Where are you?" he grumbled as he shoved his hands in his pockets. The dog was usually so good at coming when he was called… He honestly didn't want to be tromping around outside at three am.

Akamaru came bounding around the side of the building with something in his mouth. Kiba frowned because he wasn't walking straight and he could hear him whimpering. He took off and dropped to his knees by the enormous Great Pyrenees. He was drooling and Kiba knew he'd eaten something he shouldn't so he ushered him into the front room where he ran for the phone to call his mom.

"I need you over at my place!" he said.

"What is it?" she said, coming awake immediately.

"Akamaru, he's sick, like he's eaten something, he's drooling a bunch and acting weird!" he said, starting to panic. He knew that he was getting close to six years old, which for a dog his size was pretty old. Still, he didn't want his dog to die from eating something poison.

"Alright, you still have that stuff to make him vomit I gave you when he ate that bunch of poison plant?" she asked and he could hear her getting dressed. "Give him one dose, and keep an eye on him."

Kiba did as she asked, and before long he was sitting on the floor in the bathroom with him throwing up everything he'd eaten. At first he panicked, because there was blood in the vomit. Then he realized that he'd eaten something that had blood on it. He looked up as his mom came into the bathroom.

"How is he?" she asked.

"Well, he threw up this…" he muttered and looked up at her.

She knelt and looked. "That's…like medical gauze…where the hell would he have gotten something like that from?" she asked, looking up at him. "It isn't like there's medical facilities that would toss out something like this around. And this is soaked, like used as a sponge, not just a person treating a wound…"

Kiba nodded. "Is he going to be okay?"

"Let me take him with me, I'll take him to the clinic in the morning, and I'll stay up with him tonight, you've got class in the morning," she said and picked up the enormous dog easily despite her slight stature.

He stood up, running a hand through his dark hair. "Okay, mom, let me know if something happens, okay?"

He watched her leave and then went back out himself with his phone. He flipped the light on and started to look around for any trashcans that were knocked over. He didn't find any knocked over, but he did find the lid off one of them toward the other end of the building. He frowned, shining the light inside. It looked like it might have been the one Kiba's dog had been in. There was more of the gauze inside it. He looked around, because there was no way to tell where it came from. Their six plex and the one across the alley all put their trash in the bins here. He wondered if he should do anything… He put the lid on and headed back to his place, far too worried about Akamaru to even think of worrying over someone dumping blood soaked bandages in a trash can. Still, he had enough thought to text his mother and tell him what he'd found.

He didn't really want to touch the bandages, who knew if they had been used on someone with some sort of infection, so he left it and went back to his apartment. He picked up the phone and reported the incident. A couple hours later, he got a call telling him that the foot patrolman had looked into it, and had found no bloody gauze or anything in the trash. Kiba put down the phone and wondered what the hell was going on. Someone would have had to go out there and take it out of the trash after he'd been out there. So did that mean that it was someone in their row? He didn't know what to make of that.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Sunday

Kimimaro didn't know what to do. He'd seen Kabuto leave and come back, but there was no indication of what he did or why he left. He sighed and rolled away from the wheelchair, wondering again if he could get anyone to listen to him. The Uchiha boy maybe would listen, but he hadn't figured out how to contact him. If he told Haku what he wanted to do, he'd laugh at him. While Haku was fixing breakfast, he got on his laptop and looked up the band again. He managed to find the band's page on a social media network. There was a contact button. He clicked it and hoped this worked.

 _I know you are looking for your friend. Please, everyone thinks I'm crazy, but I think something is happening with my neighbor, and it started the day your friend disappeared. It can't be a coincidence._

He sent it and hoped that the one that ran the page was the Uchiha boy. He turned and headed back into the living room. Haku was in good mood, it seemed, but then he usually was when Zabuza came to visit.

"Are you still moping, Kimi?" Haku asked with a half smile.

"I wish you would listen to me. I know something is happening," he said as he stirred his tea.

Haku sighed, running a hand over his head. "I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon, Kimi, so I'll be gone for a couple hours. Do you think you'll be okay without me? It's my yearly hormone appointment, so I need to make it."

Ever since he'd been with Kimimaro, he'd let himself go without hiding his features like he did when he left. The softness of his face, and the gentle curve of his chest always made people stop and stare. He was rather androgynous looking, but then, most people with Klinefelter's syndrome were. He had refused the hormone therapy from a young age despite the doctors' insistence he had to do it. Zabuza had supported him, though, and for that he was grateful. Just because he didn't look like others didn't mean he had to change himself.

"I'll be fine, Haku," Kimimaro said and smiled at him. When Haku stared at him. "I promise I won't do anything while you're gone."

Haku nodded, hoping that Kimimaro kept that promise. Zabuza came to get him around one, and Kimimaro just sat at the window, waiting for something, anything. He didn't expect someone to knock on the door at almost three o'clock. He rolled himself over and opened it to see a very angry looking boy standing there. It took him a second to recognize the boy from the photographs of the band.

"You said you might have something," Sasuke said, glaring at him.

"Yeah, come in," Kimimaro said and wheeled backward to let him in.

Sasuke had checked the messages this morning, but hadn't told anyone he was going to find the person. Finding the guy that sent the message had been easy enough, and he really had no patience to wait for longer to try and find his phone number first. He decided to just show up and talk to him. He'd rather look someone in the eye to know if they were lying to him or not.

"Sasuke, right?" Kimimaro said as he rolled into the living room to the sofa. "Come, sit down."

Sasuke walked over, hands shoved into his pockets as he walked over. "Yeah."

"Kimimaro is my name, and um, I just, I'm not having any luck getting anyone to listen to me. I thought it was funny that I started noticing something weird with my neighbor the same night your friend disappeared," Kimimaro said.

"Tell me," Sasuke said and waited as Kimimaro gave him the whole story. Sasuke listened without comment and when he finished was quiet a long time.

"So you think this guy next door is doing something weird. And it started the day Naruto disappeared."

Kimimaro nodded. "Yeah, I know I've been wrong in the past, but it is possible, right? That this guy is the guy that took your friend?"

Sasuke wasn't sure what to think. The time frames were right. Could it be? "I'm going to talk to the detective. If this guy does have Naruto, I can't go barging in like I want to. He could hurt him more, and I don't want that. I'll try and do it the right way."

Without another word, Sasuke left, leaving the other guy to his own devices. He walked all the way to Kakashi's office and beat on his door.

Kakashi opened it with a sigh. "Sasuke, I haven't…"

"Look, I got this message from a guy named Kimimaro."

"Kimi…the paranoid guy in the wheelchair?" Kakashi asked with a sigh. "Come in," he said, slighty exasperated. He sat down and looked over the desk at him.

"Kimimaro calls us a lot on unfounded claims. He's a bit paranoid, and I doubt…" Kakashi began.

"Look, the time frames match up, and I'm annoyed as shit you didn't realize it. The same day this Kimimaro called in about his neighbor dragging a body bag into his house, Naruto went missing. This guy is in the medical program at the school we go to. He has been bringing in large packages lately. And Kimimaro has been hearing strange noises from there. He also goes out at random times and comes back empty handed," Sasuke said with narrowed eyes at him.

Kakashi sighed. "Okay, okay, I'll see what I can do. Iruka went into the place, and he didn't find anything out of place, Sasuke. Hearsay isn't enough for me to walk into someone's home, especially after Iruka has already been in there and found nothing."

Sasuke growled. "Alright, I'll give you time. But tell me you agree that this matches up."

Kakashi nodded. "Yeah, with the missing medical supplies at the teaching hospital, yes, it does. But this guy isn't leaving any substantial clues."

Sasuke nodded and went on back to his routines. Kakashi tried to do something, anything, to find out if what Kimimaro and now Sasuke thought about this Kabuto was right. The problem was, all of a sudden, the clues stopped coming for almost three months.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Sunday

Naruto was in hell, he was sure of it now. He couldn't sit anymore without leaning forward and supporting himself with his hands. The metal plates made sure that he couldn't move backward. The tail Kabuto had attached was annoying, and the collar he'd put on him was frustratingly tight. Now, he sat on the floor in the living room, naked other than the attachments and the collar he'd put on him. Kabuto sat on his sofa reading as though it was perfectly natural for him to have a human being sitting on his floor like this.

The muzzle he'd put on Naruto kept him from making more than a muffled noise, and Kabuto told him that now he was his pet, so he had to act like it. Naruto didn't know what to do. This was the first time he'd brought him out and made him sit like this. He stared at the paw looking mitts on his hands and hoped that this was as far as he went. He didn't want his legs amputated. He didn't want that at all, so he had to make sure he did what he was told. If that other version of him came back, Naruto was sure he'd end up dead.

Kabuto looked down and smiled at his Kogitsune. "You've been so good, come on, we'll have a treat," he said as he stood up and beaconed for him to follow.

Naruto had no choice but to crawl. His ankles were still throbbing and useless. He followed him into the kitchen and sat back down and looked up at him. "I know it is hard, my Kogitsune, but you'll get used to this, I promise. Before long, you won't remember being human!" he said with glee.

Immediately, Naruto felt the tears rise to his eyes. This was what he wanted? To make him forget what it was like being a person? He watched as he began to cook something. After a while, he put a bowl down on the floor with some sort of broth and finely minced noodles or something. It was more than humiliating, it was dehumanizing to think that he wanted him to actually eat like this. Kabuto reached behind his head and took the muzzle off and smiled at him.

"Here, Kogitsune. I'm sure you'd like something like this rather than just being fed through the tube," Kabuto said with a smile.

"I want to go home," Naruto said as tears started down his cheeks again. "Please, just let me go, I…"

The look on Kabuto's face changed again and the next thing he realized he was writhing on the floor. It was a shock collar, he had put a shock collar on him…

"What was that, Kogitsune? Pets shouldn't talk at all, especially not like that. Do I need to do something about your voice too?" Kabuto said as he pushed the button again, sending electricity through the collar again.

Naruto gasped as the electricity stopped and just stared at him. What…what was he supposed to do… If he talked he was going to take his voice, now? He couldn't help the sob that came with that realization and then nearly screamed as the collar shocked him again. The world faded for a bit and then he blinked to realize he was in the basement again. He was chained in the big shower, this time, without a blanket or a cover. He shivered as he tried to curl into a ball against the wall. He didn't know what to do.

Time blended together. Thankfully, Kabuto didn't do any other alterations. Naruto's scalp healed, and the surgery site on his tailbone healed up as well. His mouth felt funny without his teeth, but he got used to it. He figured out quickly how to avoid Kabuto's punishments, but now and then he did something that led to him being shocked or tied down in the basement again. A couple times, Kabuto had used a belt on him that left him in pain for a couple days afterward for not doing what he was told.

Kabuto wanted a pet, and Naruto did everything to give him what he wanted. He had to do so or he was afraid he would end up dying at his hands. He ate from the bowl when he gave it to him, he drank from the water fountain thing he'd bought. Naruto knew his ankles were healing, though, and he was happy about that. His last hope was to escape once he could walk again.

That thought, however, was dashed when Kabuto came home one day with a package. He opened it and pulled out some sort of reddish colored material He then used them to wrap Naruto's calves to his thighs, forcing him to walk on his knees. That in itself was horrifically painful, Naruto realized, but it seemed Kabuto had a solution for that too. He attached a sort of kneepad that looked like it had a paw attached to it. So now, he really did look like he had four feet when he walked. It took some time to get used to it, and he couldn't get used to feeling of having his legs bound in that fashion. Because of that, he tried to avoid moving anywhere unless he had to.

Luckily, he hadn't seen the version of his captor he called the Predator.

After a while, though, he began to feel somewhat happy. He enjoyed the routines, and soon, he wasn't forced to stay in the cage during the day. Kabuto left him out in the upstairs and he'd stay there all day, spending most of it curled on the bed. Slowly, steadily, thoughts of escaping began to fade. His world became his master. Even his master's name began to fade from his thoughts. He loved his master. His master loved him.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Three Months Later

Kakashi couldn't believe that nothing, absolutely nothing, had come up in three months. No supplies had gone missing from the teaching hospital. No new photographs had been left on the band members' doors. Even the Kimimaro lead had gone dry. They'd been unable to get a way to go back in, but they'd put his place under surveillance. Nothing happened. There were no odd noises. There were no unusual happenings. There was nothing strange at all. Even Kimimaro admitted that he had not seen or heard anything at all.

Sasuke came by each week to find out if anything had happened, and every time, Kakashi had to send him on his way. His fears were that this was an incredibly bad sign. He was afraid this meant that Naruto had died due to the alterations this crazy bastard was forcing on him. It was the only thing that made sense. He didn't tell Sasuke this because the boy was beside himself over this as it was.

Sasuke had just left Kakashi again when his phone rang. Kakashi picked it up. "Hatake here," he said.

"It's Tsunade, we've had bunch of supplies go missing, and we caught the thief on security cameras. You need to see this," she said.

Kakashi headed out to the teaching hospital and made his way to the security room. Tsunade was waiting for him at the door. She shook her head. "This is impossible," she said as she led him into the room.

She started the tape, a feed outside one of the supply closets. Everything seemed fine, then the feed went blurry like something had been placed over the camera. There was a vague person shape that picked the lock on the door and went into the supply room. A few seconds later the same shape exited with a backpack. The haze over the camera was gone and all they caught sight of was a pale colored hand as the person shape left.

"They knew about the camera?" Kakashi said in shock. No one knew about the cameras. They were hidden, even.

"That's what I mean. Someone knew about the camera. There is no way I can think of anyone could know about it. This is impossible," Tsunade said with a sigh.

"Either we have another thief, or Naruto's still alive and his captor ran out of supplies," Kakashi said.

Tsunade nodded. "I've kept a close eye on the grad student, Kabuto, too. He's done nothing out of line at all. He participates at school events, he does things that all the other TAs do, and he never misses his classes. I don't know; maybe it was coincidence after all."

Kakashi sighed. He didn't believe in coincidence.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Kimimaro watched out the window again. Kabuto hadn't done anything suspicious in so long that he was almost convinced that he had been wrong after all. The only other odd thing had happened three months ago when his neighbor Kiba's dog had gotten sick. Nothing at all since then. He was about to turn and go to bed when he heard what could only be described as an inhuman shriek.

"Haku!" he called out, but he apparently didn't hear him. He went to the door and wheeled himself outside, dusk just now setting in. He heard another scream and sped his way toward Kabuto's house because he was sure now that was where it was coming from.

The door opened and Kimimaro gasped as he saw someone trying to get out the door. Then Kabuto was standing behind the blonde haired boy that was trying to escape. Kabuto tilted his head to the side and reached down, grabbing the boy by the back of the head and then slamming his head into the frame of the door. The boy crumpled and Kabuto was coming toward Kimimaro.

Kimimaro tried to roll backward, but he felt his chair was grabbed and he looked up and saw Kabuto smile.

"You are too nosy for your own good, Kimimaro, now you'll regret it," Kabuto said, and there was a look on his face that Kimimaro had never seen.

"No, no, just don't…" he stammered but the world blacked out as Kabuto landed a blow to the side of his head.

Kimimaro woke in what he knew to be the basement of the place next door. There was a ball gag in his mouth and he was sitting in a shower of some sort. His hands were handcuffed and hooked to a bar above his head. He glanced over to see he wasn't alone. The blond that had been trying to escape was lying on the floor of the shower beside him. He was hooked to a bar on the floor by a chain that was attached to a thick collar with a box on the side.

He looked up as he heard the stairs creaking.

"You know, now I have a problem," he heard Kabuto's voice before he saw him. "I didn't intend to have to deal with anyone else, but Kogitsune just had to have a problem when I told him I was going to take his legs off at the knee. Why would it bother him? I mean, I'm pretty sure his calf muscles are atrophied after the last few months with them bound. It just isn't aesthetically right, not without taking his legs off, you know, just not quite right," he said as he knelt and ruffled the blond hair on the other boy.

Kimimaro could now see that the boy had ears on his head, and now that he was close, he saw that he was completely naked and had a bushy looking fox tail. His hands looked like they were covered with something that looked like paws. His legs were bent and covered with some sort of thing that kept his lower legs attached to his thighs.

Kimimaro muttered "why" through the gag and Kabuto smiled.

"I wanted a pet, you know," Kabuto said as he smiled. "But he's been naughty, so he's going to stay down here tonight with you. I know you have some problems with your condition. So I won't leave you here long. Just until I decide what to do with you. I might just put you out of your misery, I mean, it wold be a kindness. The kind of pain you'll endure before you die…I can't imagine that kind of future."

Kabuto smiled and went back up the stairs, leaving Kimimaro with the boy, Naruto had been his name. He had been right. This whole time, he'd been right, and this boy was next door, suffering. He deserved to die. He started as he heard movement He looked over to see Naruto had woken up. He pushed himself into a sitting position, well semi-sitting, using his arms to support him as he leaned back on his legs. He turned and looked at Kimimaro in surprise. He then looked around the room and sighed. He put his head down on his arms then and watched Kimimaro.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

"Kimimaro, did you say something?" Haku said as he came down the stairs. He looked around the room in confusion. "Kimi?" he called as he walked over to check the bathroom. "Kimi?" he called up the stairs as he went up, finding him not up there either. He frowned and went down to check the basement now. He was gone.

Haku ran to the door and threw it open, calling for him. "Kimi!" he yelled as he ran up and down the sidewalk. A few minutes later, Kiba came out with Akamaru.

"Haku, what's going on?" Kiba said as Akamaru tried to lick him.

"Kimimaro is gone! He…he was in his wheelchair. I heard him say my name, but I was in the bathroom, and when I got out to see what he needed, he was gone!" Haku said, in near panic.

"Okay, okay, here, Akamaru can sniff him out, got something of his?" Kiba said, putting a gentle hand on Haku's shoulder.

A few seconds later, after sniffing one of Kimimaro's blankets, Akamaru followed his scent right to Kabuto's door. Just as they got there, Kabuto was opening the door. He stared at the two men and the dog in confusion.

"Do you need something?" he asked, pulling his door shut and locking it. "I was heading up to the school for an event…so I'm in a hurry if you need something from me."

Haku stared at him. "Kimimaro is missing, he just disappeared!" Haku said. "I thought he might have come over here for some reason.

Kabuto shook his head. "No, haven't seen him," he said and shrugged as he went down the steps leaving the two men watching him. Both turned and stared at the door.

Kiba knelt and touched a spot on the frame after Kabuto was out of sight. He looked at his finger to see it was stained red. He looked at Haku. "Blood?" he asked.

"I'm calling Inspector Hatake…" he said as he took off back home.

Kiba stared at Akamaru. He kept sniffing around the door. He knew that meant that Kimimaro had gone in there. But there was no way to prove that.


	7. Breaking Chains

Chapter Seven

Breaking Chains

Naruto's world was smaller now. He had to please his master and that was all there was to it. Even so, when he said that he was going to go ahead and amputate his legs, he panicked and tried to get away for the first time in months. He hadn't even thought of trying to get away, but as soon as he started laying out the things he'd need to perform the amputation, Naruto's human brain kicked into gear and told him to get away.

His ankles had healed mostly, but since they'd never been cast or anything, they ached terribly, and he knew they probably weren't healed correctly. As soon as Kabuto had unwrapped his legs, he'd tried to crawl away. Kabuto was mostly amused at the attempt to escape and let him get to the door. He might have screamed for help, he wasn't sure anymore, but he was just going to get away. He managed to get the door open and saw the outside world before his head slammed into the doorframe and everything went dark.

Now, he was tied down in the basement and with someone besides the Master. He was a pale man with white hair and vibrant eyes of pale green. He looked uncomfortable where he was being held against the wall of the shower. Naruto knew he was going to be punished for what he'd done. It was just a matter of when.

"Can you hear me?" the new person asked him. He looked up to see that he'd managed to dislodge the ball gag. Apparently, the Master hadn't put it on correctly.

Naruto lifted his head from his hands where he was laying on the floor and nodded. He knew better than to talk, though. That would lead to him being shocked by the Master.

"They're still looking for you; they haven't forgotten you. Your name was Naruto, right?" he whispered hoarsely at him. "I'm Kimimaro. I live next door. Someone is going to be looking for me."

Naruto. Yeah, that was his old name before he became Kogitsune for the Master. He couldn't think of being anything else these days. He was nothing but a toy fox. He wasn't anything else except what the Master told him he was. He had to be a good fox for him, so the Predator didn't return again. But now that he had tried to escape again, he wondered what the Predator would do. Someone wouldn't survive the encounter, and he was sure that it would be him.

"You have to try to get free again, or we're both in trouble," Kimimaro said and pulled on his arms where the handcuffs clipped them above his head.

Kimimaro's mind was reeling. He'd been right all along. Everything he'd feared was true. Right next door, there was a person suffering in such a way for what reason. This was worse than he could have imagined. He didn't think about Kabuto making physical alterations to the body of someone like this. There was no way he could tell if they could even be reversed. What was he trying to accomplish?

He could try to call out, but no one would hear anything from down in the basement. Unless someone was actually upstairs in this place, even the loudest scream would be muted. Even then, he doubted he could make that loud of a noise.

"Can you get free?" he asked Naruto insistently.

The boy picked up his hands and there was a clinking sound. Kimimaro could see they were handcuffed together and attached to another bar. There was no way either of them were going to get out of this situation easily.

"Haku will be looking for me; I know he will. They'll come over here and find us."

There was a jingle and Naruto laid his head on his hands again, tilting it to the side and staring at him. The boy had bright blue eyes that glittered in the dim light. Blood ran down the right side of his face where his head had been hit on the door frame. Was he cowed so much that he couldn't function? He'd been stalked and then he'd been kidnapped and undergone obvious torture. If he didn't miss his guess, his mouth was wrong because his teeth had been removed. How would someone even heal from that?

He leaned his head back against the wall and hoped that Haku found him. He had to hope that he'd put aside his surety that there was nothing going on next door, so he could see what was happening. He felt the pull of sleep at his lids as he reached a point of exhaustion and probably effects of the head injury.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Haku was on the phone immediately to the police. He had to get someone out here to figure out what had happened to Kimimaro.

"Are you sure that he didn't just go somewhere else?" asked the officer on the phone.

"He's in a wheelchair. He can't move that quickly. I know something has happened to him, please, send someone to come help!" Haku didn't know what else to do but plead with the police to help him. But would they believe him when he said that he'd gone into Kabuto's place?

"Alright, alright, I'll send Iruka out to see what he can find out. I know he's been out to your place before," the officer said, and the phone cut off.

Haku stood outside and waited until the car arrived with Iruka in it. He got out and walked up to where Haku stood in front of the door.

"Iruka," Haku said. "Please, you've got to help," he begged. "Kimimaro is gone, so is his chair and I think he's in Kabuto's place."

"What makes you think that?" Iruka asked with a frown.

"Kiba was out here and his dog tracked his scent over to his doorway, and there's blood on the door frame," Haku explained. "I know something has happened to him!"

Iruka nodded and looked around. "I'll go check and see if Kabuto will let me in," he started as he began to go toward the door.

"He's not home," Haku explained. "He was leaving a few minutes after Kimimaro disappeared."

Iruka frowned again. "Well, if he did something to Kimimaro, I doubt he'd just leave."

Haku knew he was right. "I know I sound crazy, and I know Kimi has called you all on so many false calls before, but this time, I know something is happening! Kimimaro can't just wander off in his condition!"

Iruka nodded and patted him on the shoulder. "I'll look around. He can't be far."

Haku watched as Iruka took off to search around the building and Haku knew he wouldn't find anything. He knew where Kimimaro was, and he was inside the next home. How could he prove it, though? The police couldn't just barge into Kabuto's house without cause. Especially since there had been so many calls from their house already.

Before long, Iruka came back. "I couldn't find any sign of him," he said as he shut off his flashlight. "I'll put out a call for the area, and I'll drive around and see if he is anywhere near here."

"I'm telling you, he's been right all along, and Kabuto is up to something and now he's been caught by him," Haku said as he wrung his hands together.

Iruka sighed and nodded. "Well, I don't know what we can do but wait for Kabuto to get home so I can talk to him. I'll go drive around, just in case there's any way he could have taken off and got further away than you think."

"Okay, thank you," Haku said as he watched him go and get into his car again.

He went back into their home and closed the door with a sigh.

 _Kimimaro, what did you do_?

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Kakashi frowned as he looked at the message from Iruka. "Kimimaro again," he muttered as he shook his head. He was missing this time, and that was odd. Haku had called. That meant that it was a serious situation. Haku wouldn't call in if it wasn't something major and that he was sure of.

Things were coming to a head and he knew it. He felt that they were finally going to get to the bottom of this case that had been bugging him for so long now. He was almost done for the night when he heard a familiar voice.

"Inspector Hatake," he heard and looked up to see Sasuke Uchiha standing in the doorway with another picture in hand.

"A photo? After three months?" he asked and reached for the instant photo.

Sasuke handed it over without saying anything. Kakashi looked to see it was another picture of Naruto, but this time he was curled up on a bed, seemingly asleep. He still looked vaguely like they had last seen him; he had the ears and tail, but now he seemed to lie in such a way as to accommodate them. On the back was another scrawled message. "Help him before He gets out" and something that was scratched out with the pencil. Kakashi glared at it and wondered what else he wanted to say.

"Who is he talking about getting out?" Sasuke asked as he stared at Kakashi.

"I don't know, but he's wanting us to find him. He's given us all the clues we need; we just have to put them together. Between this and Kimimaro going missing…"

"Kimimaro is missing?" Sasuke asked, recognizing the name of the neighbor to the suspect Kabuto. "Isn't that a little strange since he was the one that reported the neighbor? It can't be a coincidence."

Kakashi shook his head. "No, I don't believe in coincidences. Iruka is out now looking for Kimimaro but he can't go into someone's house without a reason."

"You have to do something," Sasuke said with a deadly serious look. "You've failed to find him for over three months, and now we don't even know how he's doing other than a few pictures."

Kakashi nodded. "Iruka is out looking for Kimimaro. He should find him if he's out there. The man is in a wheelchair; it isn't like he can get all that far away. If Iruka can't find him, I might be able to convince them to get a warrant to go into Kabuto's house. He's still the only viable suspect we've had."

"Why for three months did we hear nothing?" Sasuke asked as he glared at the photograph.

"Something about the perpetrator that made him comfortable in what was going on, perhaps. Perhaps he was so focused on his new 'pet' that he didn't have time for anything else," Kakashi guessed as he tapped the desktop with one finger.

Sasuke nodded but looked away from him. He was thinking about a lot of things and one of them was going on his own to this guy's house and breaking in. If he could get some sort of proof, they couldn't ignore it, could they?

"You're thinking of doing something stupid," Kakashi interrupted his thoughts. "Don't. We want to rescue both of them if they've both been taken." There was a ringing of the phone and Kakashi held up a finger to tell him to wait.

"Inspector Hatake," he answered. "Alright. I'll see if I can't get into the house," he said and hung up. He glanced at Sasuke. "No luck finding Kimimaro. I'm going to try and get us into the place. Go on home, and I'll call you if we find anything out."

Sasuke couldn't just go home, but he nodded and left the police station and started walking. Three months and all he could do was wait. Wait and see. They had no reason other than Kimimaro to suspect the guy's neighbor, and he wasn't considered a reliable source. He had no idea where he was going when he ended up at Kimimaro's house. He blinked and thought he'd talk to the guy's caretaker and see what was going on. He knocked on the door and found it quickly answered by the young Haku.

"Oh, hello, I was hoping you were someone else, sorry," he said with a sigh.

"Yeah, heard that Kimimaro was missing tonight. I just came from the police station. They're trying to get something to let them go into your neighbor's place to check on things there," Sasuke explained. "I don't know why I came here, I just needed to go somewhere besides home."

"Come in," Haku said with a gentle smile and motioned Sasuke into the house.

"Thank you," he said with an attempt to smile in return that failed completely.

Haku led him into the living room that was really Kimimaro's bedroom and into the small kitchen area where a table sat. "Please, sit down, I'll make us some tea," Haku told him as he turned to the stove.

"Thank you, again," Sasuke said and stared at his hands. "I feel so useless especially knowing that if Kimimaro was right, and he's been next door this entire time…"

"Don't fret on what's passed." Haku said as he sat down a couple of cups on the table. "There was no way to prove what Kimimaro was saying, especially when an officer had already been in the place. If Kabuto is hiding something, he was able to hide it from Iruka."

Sasuke nodded, still feeling useless. "I tried to tell him to take the stalking seriously, you know. I made him report it finally." Haku got the kettle off the stove and poured water into their cups. "I did everything I could have done."

"Yes, you did. And even though no one took Kimimaro seriously, we still asked questions and went over next door. I have even been there and saw nothing out of place at all," Haku said as he sat down across from Sasuke.

"What should we do?" Sasuke asked as he stirred the tea thoughtfully.

"What can we do?" Haku asked and sipped his own tea. "There is nothing to do but to wait.

Sasuke sighed and nodded. "Always with the waiting."

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Kabuto wandered for a while, wondering what he was going to do.

 _Time to let go of it,_ whispered in his head.

Was it time to let go of it? Had he taken thing far enough so that he could no longer protect his Kogitsune? The Predator was itching to get out and destroy him. He couldn't let that happen. He had to protect his little fox.

In the last three months, Kabuto had been happy. He had spent his time with his Kogitsune and had been able to just exist. Now and then, the Predator threatened to come out, but he would leave, like he had now, and go walk around until he felt the presence fade and he was clear headed enough to deal with his fox. Training his fox had taken time, and a lot of patience, but he had done it. He had turned that willful boy into a demure and faithful pet, and it was the most empowering thing he'd ever done.

He'd sent away for a set of contacts, too, that made his eyes look like a snake's. He would often put them in before he played with his Kogitsune. Over that time, he'd also filed his teeth somewhat to give them an appearance of fangs. It wasn't incredibly noticeable, but it was enough that when he smiled, it could be seen. Of course, the only time he smiled was around his toy fox. That was the only time he was truly happy, after all. He felt his head clear a bit and turned to head back home.

How to deal with the neighbor? He hadn't expected that. He only wanted to make his Kogitsune perfect in every way, and cutting off his legs at the knee was the only way they he could make him look even more authentic. He'd debated doing it for the last two months, and tonight he had prepared for it. But then Kogitsune had to try and get away from him. He should have known that it would frighten his fox to be told he was going to amputate his legs. He only blamed himself for the situation he now found himself in.

He looked up and realized he was back home. He smiled and opened the door, going back into his home and getting together dinner in the kitchen. He would have to think more on his other victim. He would have to kill him, obviously. He wouldn't, couldn't, let him live knowing about his Kogitsune. He had to be careful though.

After he'd fixed dinner for himself and his little fox he carried the bowl for his Kogitsune down into the basement. He saw Kimimaro had managed to dislodge the gag and had fallen asleep. He knelt and gave his little fox the bowl and let him eat, petting his hand through his hair. It was longer now, the blond strands falling over his ears and into his eyes a little. He wondered if it would be easy to dye his hair to match the ears on his head. He had thought of other things to do to his fox, things that he had stopped himself from doing out of fear of going too far.

He heard Kimimaro stir next to him and he turned and smiled as Kimimaro's eyes fluttered open. "Kimimaro," he said with a grin.

"Kabuto," Kimimaro said with wide eyes. He watched as Kimimaro's eyes went to his toy fox and then returned to him. "Let me go from here, we can get you help."

"I don't need help. I need to be left alone with my Kogitsune," Kabuto said as he continued to pet his hand through his fox's hair. "We were fine until tonight."

"Please, think about this, Kabuto, just consider how wrong this is!" Kimimaro's eyes were pleading with him.

"There is nothing wrong with me taking care of my fox," he said and smiled at him, revealing the sharpened teeth he'd given himself. "He's my fox now. There's nothing anyone can do to change that now."

"What are you going to do with me?"

"I haven't decided. You can't be let go, not after you've seen my fox and I can't let you live," he said and patted Kimimaro on the head. "I'll do you a favor and end your suffering before you become a prisoner of your own skeleton. Better to die while you can still move about freely."

Kimimaro's eyes went wide. "Please, no. I just want to live out my days in peace and quiet."

"No, you don't. You thrive on adventure dreams and thinking you see things happening where there is nothing. It was a body bag, you know, that first night you saw me. I'd kept Kogitsune in one to move him. You were right all along, so at least before you die, you'll know that much." He stood up and smiled. "Now, I have to make plans on what to do with your body…"

Kimimaro shook his head and started to speak again, but Kabuto ignored him as he went back up the stairs. He had to decide how to deal with a body. He couldn't just take this lightly.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Iruka had been over the area several times and found no trace of Kimimaro. He was heading back to Haku and Kimimaro's place when his cell phone rang. He pulled into a parking space outside the row of homes and answered.

"Umino," he answered.

"Iruka, you near Kimimaro's place still?" Kakashi's voice came across the line.

"Yeah, just pulled in front of it."

Kakashi sighed. "I'm in route to you. We're going to canvass the homes around his. Don't go to Kabuto's house until I get there. We still think he may have something to do with Kimimaro's disappearance."

"Alright," he said and hung up his phone. He just had to wait a few minutes until another car pulled into the parking area and he looked out to see Inspector Hatake approach the car.

"Anything change?" Kakashi asked him through the window.

"No, but I've only been here since you called me."

"Come on, then. Let's see if we can't get a look inside his place to either confirm or eliminate him as a suspect," Kakashi said and stepped to the side to let Iruka get out.

"The neighbor said that his dog trailed Kimimaro's scent to Kabuto's door. It would be too much of a coincidence even if he left afterward," Iruka said with a glance at the row of homes.

"Let's check in with Haku and let him know that we're not giving up," Kakashi said as they walked up to Haku's door.

Kakashi knocked and it was quickly answered by Haku.

"Inspector," he said with a smile. "Have you found something?"

"Not yet, but we're going to canvas the neighbors now. I just wanted to let you know before we started that we're going to find him," Kakashi said to the younger man.

"Sasuke is here with me," Haku said and gestured behind him where Sasuke was coming up. "We were having tea and talking about everything."

"Alright, you two stay here. We'll let you know if we find anything," Kakashi assured him.

Iruka tried to give him a reassuring smile too but it probably came out as a tight forced smile. They turned to the side and Kakashi gave a nod as they headed toward Kabuto's door. Kakashi looked around and put a hand against the doorframe and it came away tacky and red. "Blood," he muttered.

Kakashi knocked on the door loudly. It took a minute for someone to call out inside to "wait a minute". They waited as the door was finally pulled open and they both recognized Kabuto. Iruka from experience, Kakashi from pictures. He pushed his glasses up his nose and looked between the two of them.

"Can I help you?" he asked, and for a second Iruka caught the tremor in his voice.

"I'm Inspector Kakashi Hatake. You know Officer Iruka Umino, I believe. We're looking for your neighbor, Kimimaro, and we were checking in with the other residents," Kakashi said casually.

"I haven't seen him," Kabuto said and smiled, but it was obviously a strained smile. "Might check with the others. Maybe he's down at Kiba's."

He started to close the door when Kakashi caught it. "Wait, I wanted to ask you about this blood on your doorway."

"Blood?" Kabuto asked and glanced to where Kakashi was pointing. "I don't know about that…"

"Can we take a look inside and make sure there isn't a problem?" Kakashi continued.

"No!" he snapped and then smiled. "No, I mean, I was about to leave."

"You just came home," Iruka noted from beside Kakashi. "I tried to see you when I was by earlier and you weren't home."

Kabuto's eyes widened and he licked his lips nervously. "I…I um…" he started and then he started to giggle suddenly. Kakashi and Iruka exchanged a look with each other. He laughed for a couple minutes and then stopped, eyes even wider and gasped as he collapsed suddenly, body beginning to seize.

Kakashi dropped to his knees and spoke into his radio. "I need an ambulance at my location!"

Behind them, Sasuke and Haku had been standing outside the door to Haku's house. Both came running when Kabuto fell to the ground. Sasuke looked toward the door and thought he heard something.

"I hear someone," Sasuke said as he looked past them.

"Well, just a minute, the ambulance is on the way for him," Kakashi said as Kabuto's body seemed to be calming down, but he was still unconscious.

"No, I hear someone in here," Sasuke said and stepped around them into the house. He could hear muffled yelling coming from the basement.

Kakashi sighed deeply and looked at Iruka. "Go with him," he said as he stayed with Kabuto. He heard the noise of the coming ambulance already.

"Hold on," Iruka said as he caught up to Sasuke who was about to open the basement. He could hear the sound of someone's muffled yelling too. He put his fingers to his lips and opened the basement door. The muffled sounds became clearer.

"Hello?" a voice that Iruka recognized yelled out. "Is someone there?"

Iruka sighed and started down the steps with Sasuke right behind him. He knew it was too much to ask the young man to stay put. He came down and saw Kimimaro handcuffed up against a shower backsplash.

"Help, please!" Kimimaro yelled out, handcuffs jingling as he leaned forward. "Please!"

Iruka went through the doorway into the little bathroom where Kimimaro was bound. Sasuke was right behind him and he heard the boy gasp and he realized that their missing boy was there too, tied down there as well.

Sasuke saw Kimimaro first but then his eyes were drawn to a head of bright blond hair lying on the floor beside Kimimaro's feet.

"Naruto!" he gasped and scrambled over to him. He lifted his head and saw him blink those big blue eyes. He turned his head to the side and stared at Sasuke in apparent confusion.

Sasuke didn't know what to do. He just stared at him in equal parts horror and shock. Seeing the pictures were one thing, but seeing it close up was another. He was thin and his mouth was wrong. The ears that were set into his skull were wearing along the edges.

"Stay here with them," Iruka said as he started up the stairs. "Inspector! I've got them, both the vics! Need another ambulance! Probably two!"

Sasuke put a hand against Naruto's face and tilted it upward. "I can't believe what he's done," he whispered as he thumbed the scars on Naruto's cheek. "Can you talk to me?"

He didn't say anything. "He hasn't said anything since I've been down here," Kimimaro said as he sat there waiting for someone to unlock his hands. His wheelchair was nearby, folded up against the wall.

Once everything started happening, it started happening fast. Upstairs, Kabuto had been taken away in an ambulance to be met by police at the hospital. Two more ambulances were called in for Naruto and Kimimaro. Haku waited expectantly outside the door that was now being guarded by an officer. Down in the basement, Iruka and Kakashi came down with a handcuff key. Kimimaro was unhooked and a paramedic came down and helped walk him up the stairs. It was obvious they weren't sure how to handle Naruto in his condition.

Sasuke took the handcuff key and unlocked his hands from where they were tied down. Naruto didn't say anything still, just stared at them wide eyed as though not sure what to think. He sat up as well as he could, propping himself up on his arms and sitting against his legs where they were pulled underneath him. Sasuke started to leave to let the paramedics take care of him but he reached out and grabbed Sasuke's ankle when he tried to walk away. He knelt back down again and looked at him.

"I won't go anywhere," Sasuke said and meant it. They wouldn't get him to part with him now that he'd found him again.

The paramedics came down and they soon found that Naruto didn't take well to them trying to touch him. Sasuke took the hospital gown they were trying to put on him and he pulled Naruto up by the arm to sit up somewhat straighter. He threaded his arms through the sleeves and tied it around in front of him.

"There's not room for a gurney down here," the paramedic said as he looked around. "We'll need to get him up the stairs."

Sasuke put his arms around Naruto under his arms and lifted him to stand. When he did, Naruto's legs nearly buckled under him, but he held onto Sasuke. The paramedic managed to get on the other side of him until they got to the stairs where there was only room for two side by side. Sasuke managed to maneuver him up to the top where the gurney was waiting for them. They had put it down and Sasuke led him to crawl up on it since he couldn't lay on his back. He seemed overly calm and Sasuke was wondering why he wasn't more responsive. So far, he just did whatever he was told to do.

"We'll get the collar off him at the hospital. I'd rather not mess with anything until he can be seen to by a doctor," the other paramedic said as he pulled the sheet over him.

Again, Sasuke tried to walk away, but Naruto grabbed him by the pant leg and stared at him. "You should stay with him," Kakashi said from beside him.

Sasuke nodded and walked beside the gurney as they walked him out of the house to the waiting ambulance. Sasuke got in with them and sat beside him as they headed through the night.


	8. Path From the Dark

Chapter Eight

Path from the Dark

Sasuke wouldn't leave Naruto's side as they took him to a room to wait. He sat beside the bed once they got him transferred to it. He still hadn't said anything, and no one had done anything with him yet. Sasuke knew that the doctors probably didn't know what to do with him. Naruto, meanwhile, had curled up as much as he could on the bed, with eyes wide and watching every move that Sasuke made.

After about half an hour of waiting, a doctor came into the room. Sasuke looked at him and narrowed his eyes.

"What are you going to do?" he snapped.

"Uh, are you related to this young man?" he asked.

"I'm as close to family as he has," Sasuke told him.

The doctor looked a bit uncomfortable. "I really can't share information with anyone except his family or the police."

"Look, he trusts me, and won't let me leave him," Sasuke growled.

Again, the doctor shifted. "I'm afraid you'll have to leave so we can examine him."

"Fine, whatever," Sasuke said and stood up from the chair beside the bed.

Naruto's head popped up and he pushed himself up to the semi-sitting position that it was obvious was allowed with the tail attachment he had. His eyes were wide and Sasuke knew that he understood what was happening even if he wasn't talking yet.

"It's okay, Dobe," Sasuke said, reaching over and ruffling the hair on the top of his head. "Let the doctors see to you."

He whimpered, surprising Sasuke since he had yet to make any noise. As soon as he made the noise, though, he flinched and laid back down again, his respiration increasing significantly. Sasuke guessed he'd been punished for making noises. He reached out and ran a hand over his head, pausing at the box on the side of his neck.

"I won't be far," he said. "No one's going to hurt you here, I promise. No one's going to hurt you ever again." At the last statement, he cut his eyes back to the doctor. The door opened again, though, and a woman in a white doctor's coat and very low-cut shirt came into the room.

"I'll take over here," she said curtly to the other doctor.

"Dr. Tsunade!" he said and bowed to her. "Of course," he said and ducked out of the room.

"Are you going to tell me I need to leave, too?" Sasuke asked with an arched brow.

She sighed. "I've heard about you, Sasuke Uchiha. You need to let us do what needs to be done with him. He needs to be examined and Inspector Hatake wants photographs of everything before we can proceed. He's out in the waiting room; you should go talk to him."

Sasuke glanced at Naruto and back to her. "Alright. But I want back in here as soon as you're done," he said and stalked to the door.

Immediately, Naruto sat up again and whined rather loudly this time. Tsunade smiled at him and went over.

"He'll be close by, Naruto. I promise, he can come back when we're done," she said gently to him.

Naruto stared at her, eyes wide. She looked back at Sasuke and nodded. "He'll be fine."

Sasuke hesitated but left to go to the waiting room. As he left, Tsunade saw the look that went across the blond boy's face. He was afraid without him there.

There was a gentle knock, and she called out for them to enter. "Officer Umino. Inspector Hatake," she said and nodded toward them.

"Please, Kakashi. And this is Iruka. I have a feeling we're going to be working closely over the next few days," Kakashi said with a nod toward her.

She sighed. "I believe you're right," she acknowledged.

"Has he said anything at all?" Iruka said, pulling out the small camera he had in his jacket pocket.

"Not that I've heard." Tsunade turned to him. "Naruto?"

He turned toward her. So, it was obvious his hearing wasn't impeded. The question was whether he _could_ talk or if this Kabuto had done something to his vocal chords. She stepped back and let Iruka take photos of him where he was sitting. She reached from the gown they'd put on him and he flinched away from her.

"No, it's okay. We're just going to take pictures, alright? No one's going to do anything," she told him, reaching for the tie near his throat. He let her do it without moving.

She pulled off the gown and put it to the side. "Here, I'll take the pictures of the wounds," she said, reaching behind her for the camera. Iruka hesitated then gave it to her.

She took pictures of his back where the tail was attached to his sacrum or coccyx, it looked like. That was going to make removal tedious, especially if he'd bolted it into the bone. She couldn't imagine the pain that had to have put him in. It was no wonder he sat the way he did. There were virtually only one or two positions that he could even begin to be comfortable in. She gently pushed his shoulders so he could lay down and took pictures of his head, moving his hair out of the way to get a good look where the ears were attached to him. She moved down and snapped pictures of the collar he was wearing. Now that she could see it, she had her suspicions as to why he wouldn't talk.

"I think this is a shock collar," she commented, pointing out the box on the side of it. "Naruto?" she asked, and he looked at her again. "Did he shock you with this?" she asked and pressed her hand against his neck. He didn't speak but he nodded almost unperceptively.

She sighed, taking a couple more pictures then setting the camera down. She turned and grabbed a pair of gloves out of the box hanging on the wall and took off the collar. She held it up and looked at Kakashi and Iruka.

"Do you have an evidence bag?" she asked.

Kakashi nodded, pulling a plastic bag from his pocket. He held it open and she dropped the collar into it. "There's the reason he won't speak," she commented as she turned back to him.

Kakashi looked at the collar and nodded. "I think you're right," he muttered.

"I can't lie him on his back with this tail attachment. Any other pictures are going to have to wait until it can be removed. If it can be removed." She sighed and handed the camera back to Iruka.

Iruka pointed to his hands. "And those?"

Naruto picked up one of his hands and looked at it. Tsunade pulled on the glove, finding it not moving or giving at all. "I think he's attached it to him somehow."

"We know he did that early on from the photographs so whatever he used has lasted this long," Iruka pointed out.

Tsunade nodded. "There may be permanent damage to his hands. We might have to try and surgically remove them and see what condition his skin is underneath," she said with a sigh. "But the priority is to see if we can remove that tail. The rest is cosmetic for the most part. At least, I hope so, but we'll need x-rays to see what we're dealing with."

She picked up the gown and quickly tied it back around him, covering his back. He looked nervous still and she couldn't blame him. Everyone was different and he spent months being treated like… what? What was he trying to do?

"You should go deal with Uchiha. He's going to want to see him. Does he have any family we can contact?" she asked, picking up his chart and making a couple notes with the attached pen.

"He doesn't have anyone. He's on his own. His parents were killed when he was a child, and he was raised mostly in foster care. He's been on his own since he was eighteen." Kakashi sighed. "The Uchiha boy and his band are the closest thing to a family he has."

"Well, deal with Uchiha. Tell him after his x-rays he can come back in to sit with him," she said as she stepped out and flagged down a nurse to help her.

They quickly took the bed and headed out to get the tests done on him to see how the attachments had been made and if they were going to be able to safely remove them. Through the entire process, Naruto seemed frozen in fear of everyone that was around him. He still didn't say anything, only watched everyone with wide, fearful eyes. Finally, they took him back to his room where Sasuke was already waiting for him. Tsunade shook her head as she watched the nurse set the bed back in there.

"What can you tell me?" Sasuke asked as Tsunade came into the room.

"You know the answer to that. Unless he can tell us he wants you to know, I can't tell you anything," she said and glanced at Naruto.

Naruto looked back at her and then to Sasuke. It was obvious the fear of speaking had been well ingrained into him over the last few months. Tsunade sighed, walking over to the bed and putting a hand against his face.

"Naruto, do you want Sasuke to know about what's happening?" she asked. "I'm not supposed to do this, but if you are able to show me that you are mentally here enough to make a decision, I'll let you make Sasuke involved in your care."

He stared at her, then looked at Sasuke. He had that wide, frightened look on his face again. He opened his mouth, sitting there for a second before he closed it again. His breath had kicked up a notch and he looked like he was trying to summon the ability to say something desperately.

Finally, he managed a muffled, "Please, yeah."

Tsunade smiled. "Okay, that's good enough for now. We're going to take you to surgery in a little while and remove that tail piece and the ears he screwed into your skull. I don't see any problems with taking either of them out. Once we do that, you'll be able to lie down more comfortably."

Naruto just kind of looked at her then looked over at Sasuke and put his head down on his hands again. Sasuke moved over and took one of his mitt covered hands.

"And this?" he asked.

"We're not sure what is going to be done with his hands. If he used some sort bonding agent to attach them, we may have to remove the layer of skin with it. First, we're going to do what we can with the attachments." She smiled at him sadly. "For now, I've got to get ready for the surgery."

She turned and left Sasuke alone with him. Sasuke held onto his hand.

"Come on, you can talk, he's not going to be able to get to you again," Sasuke told him.

Naruto turned his head to look at him and smiled weakly. "Okay," he said softly.

He didn't say anything else, but looked to be sleepy, so Sasuke didn't try to keep him awake. He kept hold of his hand though, until the nurse came in to start an IV on him. He started to fight her, but Sasuke convinced him to calm down and let her start the IV. The nurse thanked him and talked softly to Naruto to keep him calm. After a few minutes, Tsunade sent for them to come get Naruto for the surgeries they were going to perform. Sasuke waited in the room for him to return.

He put his head in his hands. How could he have been so close to him and not know it? He was literally in the place next to Kimimaro. And he spent _three months_ with him undergoing who knew what horrible things. All because Sasuke couldn't see it even though it was right in front of him. He had all the clues. He had the truth but hadn't been able to do anything about it. They didn't even know the extent of what he'd done to Naruto. They just knew what they could see, and that was bad enough.

He jumped when the phone went off in his pocket. He fumbled it out and saw that it was Sakura. He wondered if he should tell her. He thought it would be better if they knew and could come see him.

"Hello," he said sullenly.

"Sasuke! I've been trying to get hold of you for like an hour! Why don't you answer your phone?" she demanded.

"Because we found him."

"What do you mean? Found who? Wait, you don't mean you found Naruto?" she gasped in shock.

"He was next door to Kimimaro. With that guy named Kabuto." His voice was flat, and he was attempting to keep it emotionless.

"Kabuto-senpai?" she said. "Why would he have Naruto with him? He was doing the things in those pictures to him? How can that be, I've seen him at school!"

"We don't know all the details yet; we just know that he was found there. I'm at the hospital now," he said, running a hand over his head. "They just took him to try and take the tail and ears off of him."

"How is he, though? What has he said?" she asked, and he could hear her moving around in the background.

"He won't talk yet. I've gotten him to say a couple words, and that's it," Sasuke told her with a sigh.

"I'll call the others, and we'll be there. Just stay with him. He needs someone he cares about there for him," she said as he heard keys jingling.

Sasuke nodded. "Alright. I'm waiting in his room."

"Just sit tight," she said and hung up.

Sasuke put the phone away in his pocket and wondered how long this would take. He hoped it wasn't very long because he wanted Naruto to be back and be okay. That's all he wanted. He wanted him to go back to the way he was before. He covered his mouth and closed his eyes. He had to stop thinking like that. After what had happened, there was no way he'd just go back to the way he was before. Expecting it would hurt him, he knew. And he was serious about no one hurting him again. Because he wasn't leaving his side.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Kakashi sat in the waiting room with Iruka. He didn't know why Iruka was sticking around; he didn't need to be here. Kakashi really could have left, too, but he wanted to hear what happened immediately. He sighed, running a hand over his head.

"Sir?" he heard and looked up to see Iruka had brought him a coffee.

"Thanks, Iruka," he said, taking it.

"Are you doing okay?" Iruka asked and sat down beside him with his own cup of coffee.

"I can't believe it was right in front of us. I can't imagine what that poor boy went through while we sat on our hands and did nothing," he said, sipping the coffee slowly.

"There wasn't anything else we could do; we did everything the law would allow," Iruka reminded him.

"Inspector Hatake?" a nurse said from the doorway.

"Yes," he said, standing up.

"I was told you wanted to know when our other patient regained consciousness," she said. "He's awake and seems to be within a stable frame of mind."

Kakashi nodded. "I'll talk to him."

She nodded and led him to the room where Kabuto was lying handcuffed to the bed. He was lying back in the bed, staring out the window. Kakashi reached in his pocket and removed a recorder from his pocket and switched it on.

"Yakushi-san?" Kakashi said as he entered the room with Iruka right behind him.

"Yes?" he said, turning toward him with no real expression on his face.

"Do you remember me?" Kakashi asked as he approached.

Kabuto tilted his head to the side. "You look familiar. I can't place you. I know officer Umino," he said, looking at Iruka.

"I came to your door tonight. Do you remember what happened?" Kakashi asked, seeing they had an IV on him.

He was quiet for a second. "I remember getting up this morning. Then I lost time again," he said.

"Lost time again?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes, there's times when I lose time. I don't know what happens during those times, but I think sometimes the Predator takes over," he said simply.

"Who is the Predator?" Kakashi asked, pulling the stool over and sitting beside the bed.

"Me. Sort of. I try to keep him at bay. He does bad things, especially to my Kogitsune," he said, eyes focused on Kakashi now.

"Your Kogitsune? Is that the boy you had chained in your basement?" Iruka asked, standing behind Kakashi.

"Yes, he sometimes has to go down there. Just when he's naughty and needs to learn better. If he was down there, he must have done something," Kabuto seemed to talk about it as though it were normal that he had a captive.

Kakashi was trying his best to keep his face neutral when he really wanted to berate him. He wanted to demand an explanation for why he'd done everything. He wanted to know what gave him the right to take a person and confine them for so long and do…what? They weren't even sure besides the obvious what had happened.

"So, you don't remember anything about this evening at all?" he restated.

Kabuto shook his head. "No…last I remember was getting up this morning and taking my Kogitsune down to the living room for the day."

"Okay, let's not talk about today." Kakashi looked over at Iruka. "Tell me about your Kogitsune."

Kabuto smiled broadly as though extremely happy. "Oh, he's amazing. He's absolutely perfect, isn't he? Where is he? Can I see him? I miss him a great deal already."

"Kabuto, do you understand that you're being arrested?" Iruka asked slowly.

He stared for a second, then pulled on the wrist that was handcuffed to the bed. "Huh. Will I be able to take my Kogitsune with me?"

Iruka and Kakashi exchanged glances. "You won't be seeing him again," Kakashi said, frowning at him.

"Oh. That's too bad. I will be sad without him," he said, lying his arm down.

"What did you do to that boy, Kabuto?" Kakashi asked. "You did alterations to his body. You removed his teeth. Why?"

Kabuto was silent for a moment. "He had to be perfect."

"Perfect?" Iruka asked.

"Yes. But his teeth, that was an accident. The Predator got out when he bit me," Kabuto explained, reaching up with his free hand to adjust his round glasses.

"You didn't intend to pull out his teeth?" Kakashi asked.

"I did, eventually. But he was resistant to my affections," he said sadly. "I didn't intend to do it so close to the other procedures. I wanted to reduce the chance of him going into shock."

"You knew what you were doing could cause him to go into shock. You knew that you were hurting him," Kakashi told him.

"I gave him morphine that I'd taken from the hospital. I wanted to keep my Kogitsune comfortable. That was why removing his teeth was an accident, since I didn't numb him. I was regretful of that. I put the poor thing through more pain than I intended. But he shouldn't have bit me," Kabuto said flatly.

Kakashi shook his head. "Did you abuse him?"

Kabuto turned a confused face toward him. "I punished him when he needed it. I didn't abuse him."

"How did you 'punish' him?" Kakashi said through clenched teeth.

"The easiest way to punish him was for talking out of turn, of course. I ordered the collar. It was very effective. His lovely voice was only for me to hear, and only when I instructed him to speak," he said. "I sometimes had to corporally punish him for some things. He was always receptive to it."

Kakashi did and didn't want to know the answer to his next question. "Did you have sexual contact with your Kogitsune?"

"He made a perfect lover, with a little encouragement," Kabuto said and smiled again. "It only took a few times before I could leave him without being bound. It was nice when he became docile enough to be allowed to stay out during the day when I left, after I knew he wouldn't try to get away."

Iruka released a long sigh. It was as they feared. Kakashi looked at him. "You kidnapped a young man to turn him into a pet?"

"He was perfect. Well, almost. I remember now, I was going to amputate his legs at the knees tonight. He tried to run away for the first time in a long time. His ankles healed poorly as it was, so it would cause him pain later on, so it was for the best, I thought," Kabuto explained. "I don't know why he panicked. He had been so good for so long, my beautiful fox."

"Why a fox?" Kakashi asked, unable to resist the curiosity that he was feeling. "Why would you want to make someone into a fox of all creatures?"

"Because I'm a snake," he said, smiling and revealing his filed front teeth. "And the snake consumes the fox."

"Did you intend to kill him?" Kakashi wondered.

"No! Why would I kill the beautiful fox I created?" he said with a frown. "He is everything to me. My adopted mother died," he said suddenly.

Kakashi shook his head. "Your adopted mother?" he asked, wondering what that had to do with anything.

"Yes, she passed away, and everything went blurry for a while. When I remember clearly again, my Kogitsune was already there. She was everything to me. She saved me from the Predator," he said and looked sad.

"I thought you were the Predator?" Iruka asked suddenly.

"No, not me, the real Predator. The one that attacked me as a child," he said. "I wish I could see my Kogitsune again, just once, to tell him good bye since I can't see him anymore."

"You'll have to live without seeing him again," Kakashi said and stood up. "I'm sure we'll have more questions for you."

"It is best. I have a headache," he said, putting his hand to his head. "I think…" he blinked and then fell back on the pillows in a seizure.

Kakashi grabbed the nurse call and a few seconds later, a nurse came in and tended him until the seizure stopped. She called for the doctor to be informed that he'd suffered another seizure. Kakashi and Iruka were ushered out of the room. He turned off the recorder and returned it to his pocket.

"What do you think?" Iruka said as Kakashi stared at the doorway to Kabuto's room where an officer stood outside.

"I think that man is seriously disturbed," Kakashi said. "I've never had a perpetrator that I believed could use the mental illness defense, but this man…"

Iruka nodded. "How did no one notice anything?"

Kakashi shook his head. "We need to talk to the doctor again and tell her what we know."

Together, they went back to the area near Naruto's room. Kakashi approached the nurses' station and asked if he was back in his room yet. He found that he wasn't back from surgery yet. They asked to have Tsunade come find them in the waiting room when she was done. Iruka and Kakashi then went back to sit down again and wait.

"It was all there in front of us," Kakashi said. "And I didn't see it. I thought he was harmless."

Iruka reached out and took Kakashi's hand suddenly. Kakashi flinched a little, then looked up at Iruka's face.

"You did what you could. We're all at fault for not seeing this. Don't put all the blame on yourself. He was good at hiding things from everyone. I'm sure that there will be answers found in his home. The crime scene unit should have collected evidence by now," Iruka told him with a gentle smile.

Kakashi didn't know what to make of Iruka's gesture. He found himself smiling under his mask anyway, though.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Sasuke looked up as the nurses came back in with the bed. He stood up and moved out of the way so they could position it back in the room. Naruto was lying on his side now, and there was a bandage around his head. His hands hadn't been touched yet, but Sasuke figured they still had to figure out what was used on them.

"He might be sleepy for a little while," the nurse said as she adjusted the IV. "He should stay on his side. If he needs to change position, call one of us," she told him as she adjusted the pillows under his head.

Sasuke nodded and pulled the chair up near his face and brushed his hair back. It had gotten longer over the last three months that he had been gone. He heard a light knock and looked up to see Sakura and Ino standing there.

"How is he?" Sakura asked as she came into the room.

"He just got out of surgery to remove the tail and ears," Sasuke told her.

Ino looked like she didn't know what to do or say. "He looks thinner."

Sasuke nodded. "He doesn't have any teeth. They think he was given a feeding tube."

"Why would he pull his teeth out?" Ino said with a frown.

Sasuke fixed her with a stare that relayed exactly how dumb he thought the question was. She winced and bit her lip. "Oh."

Sasuke felt him move under his hand and he turned back to him. "Naruto?"

His eyes fluttered and opened. He frowned and blinked a little. He locked eyes with Sasuke and stared.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked again. "Hey, you're awake. Can you talk to me?"

For a second, Naruto's eyes widened a bit and he took a quick breath. He licked his lips dryly and Sasuke looked over to see the nurse had left a cup of ice water on the rolling table. "Here," he said as he grabbed it and held the straw to his mouth gently. "It's just some water."

He sucked down some water but kept his eyes on Sasuke the entire time as though afraid he might disappear. He reached out one of his mitt-covered hands toward Sasuke after he put the cup of water back on the table. Sasuke took his hand and held it. He then glanced about the room, seeing Sakura and Ino standing there by the bed. His eyes turned back to Sasuke though.

"Sasuke?" he finally said, voice somewhat off without teeth in his mouth.

"Yeah," Sasuke said, squeezing his hand through the mitt. "I'm here."

"What…what happened?" he said, starting to look around the room again. "Where…where is he?"

"Shh," Sasuke said, putting a hand on Naruto's face and cupping his cheek. "He's not here. He's not going to touch you again."

There was a knock again, and Naruto jerked his head toward the sound. Tsunade came into the room. She noted the two girls and guessed they were friends of his by the look.

"Naruto, how are you feeling?" she asked, stepping up behind Sasuke. "You shouldn't be feeling any pain right now."

He shook his head at her, eyes going between her and Sasuke. He just stared at her for a long time, looking unsure of what to do. Tsunade looked over at the two girls and back to him.

"Can I talk in front of your friends or would you rather they wait outside?" she asked.

Naruto's eyes flickered over to them again and back to her. He shook his head slightly, but not very hard. She nodded and glanced at Ino and Sakura. "If you'll wait outside for a moment, I won't be long"

Both Ino and Sakura nodded, going for the door. They both looked back, expecting Sasuke to come too, but he didn't move, and Naruto didn't seem to want him to. They exited and shut the door behind them.

Tsunade looked at Naruto and nodded. "I'm your main doctor. I've been working with the police since this all started. My name is Tsunade. We were able to surgically remove the tail and the ears with no complications. We don't know about your hands yet. I have a specialist coming in tomorrow morning to see what can be done. I've put you on a liquid diet for now both because of your teeth and because we want to keep an eye on what you eat." She paused and put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "I also put in a request to have a dentist come see you. The sooner we can get you able to eat normally, the better."

Naruto nodded. "I haven't eaten in so long," he whispered hoarsely.

"We're going to do what we can to fix that," Tsunade assured. "Inspector Hatake, who has been on your case since you disappeared, would like to talk to you, if you can. If not, I can tell him to wait until later."

"He's still here?" Naruto asked, looking at Sasuke.

"Yeah, he's been trying to find you this whole time," Sasuke said with a soft look on his face. It wasn't quite a smile, but it was as close as he could come right then.

Sasuke knew his voice was too soft, and far from the Naruto he knew before. He squeezed his hand again. "So, can you talk to him?"

Naruto swallowed hard but nodded. Tsunade smiled a little. "I know it won't be easy, but you'll need to do this. I'll tell him you'll see him and ask your friends to wait in the waiting room until he's done talking with you."

She left, and Naruto watched her go before he turned his attention back to Sasuke. Just looking at him, his eyes started filling up with tears that slowly spilled over.

"What is it, Dobe?" Sasuke asked, frowning.

He just shook his head and let the tears fall down onto the pillow until the door opened again. Sasuke looked up to see Kakashi and Iruka come into the room. Kakashi nodded to Sasuke and then pulled the rolling stool over to the bedside. Iruka stood at the end of the bed.

"Naruto? I'm going to record this, so it's important that you speak out loud," Kakashi said, holding up his recorder. "Just, in your own words, tell me what happened to you a little over three months ago."

He looked at Sasuke and back to Kakashi. After a long pause he started talking, still in a soft voice.

"He took me from the Station. I woke up in the basement. He broke my ankles. Then he…he…he…" he paused.

"Take your time," Kakashi assured him.

"He did _it_ to me…" he said finally.

"It?" Kakashi asked, already knowing what he was talking about after seeing Kabuto.

Naruto's eyes were a bit wide and glassy as he swallowed thickly. "He f-forced himself on m-me…"

"Did this happen often?" Kakashi asked. He tried to keep his expression neutral.

He nodded, then remembered he had to speak. "Yeah… H-he said he loved me when he did it." His eyes had started to tear up again, and Kakashi knew that he wouldn't be able to tolerate much longer.

"Just another question for now. What did Kabuto do then?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto stared for a minute. "He did lots of things. He put the tail and ears on me, put these mitts on my hands and poured something in them to make them stay on, and he wouldn't let me wear clothes. I h-had to sit at his feet like a good pet."

"What happened tonight?"

"H-he said he was going to take my legs off at the knees, and I tried to run away, but I couldn't get far, and that guy was out there…"

"Kimimaro," Kakashi provided. "He put him in the basement with you."

Again, Naruto nodded, but then cleared his throat. "I was scared he would use the collar on me again."

"Okay, that's all for now. I just needed a statement of what happened. The details are something we can talk about later. For now, know that he's in police custody, and under careful watch." Kakashi stood up and smiled at him. "I'll tell your friends they can come back."

He turned and left with Iruka and Naruto just watched him go. He looked back to Sasuke and reached for him again. Once more, Sasuke grabbed hold of his covered hands and squeezed them.

"I'm not going anywhere," Sasuke said gently.

Naruto gave him a small smile and sighed, eyes getting heavy. He was really tired all of a sudden.


End file.
